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So I just went down there and borrowed a little amplifier that I could bring on the train. We had
two weeks, and they were so great and also in Denmark, in 79, every time he was there, we got
better friends because we were laughing at the same things. We loved Richard Pryor and all of
his stuff. So we became close very quick, I think, and the way we played together was just like I
never thought about it. We never practised, we never had a rehearsal or anything like that. And
then when we were on that tour, the only thing he told me at that time, that's the only thing he
ever told me about what he wanted me to play, he said, Kenn, when we play, don't rap so much.
He meant play rhythm because I was like playing rhythm guitar like in a band when he was singing,
and he plays his thing. And then I would play some solos, and he said don't rap so much, just play
the blues. And I said, ‘what the fuck’s he talking about?’ And then he talked a lot about Leroy Carr
and Scrapper Blackwell. Have you ever heard about them?
BiTS: I know both of them.
KL: They were his big idols. So I went and got some records with them. I was listening to what
Scrapper Blackwell was playing and then I heard it. He didn’t want me to play all these chords.
He wanted me to make lines like, I don't know if it's the right way to say it in English - vibrates.
You know what I'm saying?
BiTS: I do.
KL: It's like in African music. You know, when the high guitar players play, they don't play chords,
they play little lines like a bass player, actually. Yeah, yeah, and that's what he wanted me to do.
So from then on [chuckles], I knew what he wanted and then I played it with him like, yeah, almost
1000 concerts until he died.
BiTS: And a number of records as
well that you made together. How did
the recording go? Did you have a plan
for the recordings, or did you do it out
of free fall?
KL: No, we never had a plan for
anything. It was like before the
concert when people came to the
dressing room and said, oh, what you
gonna play tonight? And he’d say I
don't know, and I didn't know. So we
just went on stage, like big concert
halls and everything, and he just
started playing and I started playing
and then we just went on from there
and it was the same when we were recording. I didn’t know what he was going to do.
BiTS: I saw Jack play on a number of occasions in London, 100 Club and various other places like
that, and he was always a hugely, let's call him an enthusiastic player. Lots of rhythmic stuff and
all the rest of it.
KL: Yeah. Yeah.
BiTS: Did you have difficulty joining him in his style?
KL: No, and it was very interesting because this guy I mentioned before, this guy from New York,
this conga player, he was very, very wise, if you can say that. He recorded with Coltrane and Duke
