Steve Winwood returns to his home city next week with a new album, a new record label and a few ideas on where the music industry is heading. 

The Birmingham Post (England), February 26, 2004

By Neil Connor

In true rock legend style, Steve Winwood wasn't happy with the confines being placed around him in the music industry, so he changed the rules.

Artistic integrity is Winwood's first and most important ideology. Nothing should divert him from his agenda.

Therefore, central to Winwood's desire to establish his own label, Wincraft Music, is his view that the relationship between artists and record labels has shifted.

About Time, Winwood's new album, signals a bold new artistic direction for the 55-year-old Handsworth-born rocker that should hardly come as a surprise for those who have followed his distinguished career. But although this shift in style may not have been problematic for Winwood in his early career, he knows that only by setting up his own record label would he be able to maintain his creative rights in the 21st century.

'Increasingly albums are now seen as a financial investment made by a record company, as opposed to an artist's creative vision,' he says.

'I've got to say that I think a lot more pressure has been brought to bear by most record companies overthe last 20 years or so on the artist to make a record that sounds a certain way because they want to market it a certain way.

'There appear to be a lot of people putting their creative oar in, rightly or wrongly, and this has affected music. I don't recall being asked if we could create a particular radio mix in the early days. There exist artists who are brave enough to ignore that completely. I can't say that I have always been that brave and it is my own loss that I haven't been. That certainly isn't the case on this record. I think that freedom has had apositive effect on the kind of record we produced with About Time.' Steve Winwood has a CV so impressive that, alongside Ozzy Osbourne and Jeff Lynne, he has every right to be called one of Birmingham's rock legends. It is this history that makes his views on where the music industry has got it wrong far more credible than the likes of Simon Cowell or Pete Waterman.

Winwood's fascinating journey began when at just 15 years old he and his older brother Muff joined the Spencer Davis Group in 1963. Heavily influenced by Ray Charles and excited by the prospect of blending jazz, folk, blues, and R&Binto one cohesive effort, the teenage Winwood was a musical genius on a mission. Skilful on both the piano and guitar, Winwood also displayed a fascinating vocal prowess which propelled the Spencer Davis Group on to the world stage.

In April 1967, Winwood left the Spencer Davis Group to form Traffic, where his affinity for the distinctive sound of the Hammond B-3 organ can be traced back to. The band was firmly established as one of the most important and commercially successful groups of their era when, in 1969, Winwood formed the first 'supergroup', Blind Faith. Their only album, Blind Faith, was an international bestseller.

Signature songs such as Can't Find My Way Home and Presence Of The Lord reveal the special chemistry Winwood enjoyed with Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Rick Grech.

The following year Winwood reformed Traffic and in 1977 he embarked on a highly successful solo career which saw him scoop a Grammy Award for the album Back In The High Life, as well as the coveted Best Male Vocal. Next month, in recognition of the band's huge contribution to music, Traffic are to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame at the ceremony being held in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York.

Now Winwood is back again with About Time, a change of direction which has seen him blend rock with world music. Once again, the Hammond B-3 organ is brought to the forefront as Winwood eschewed many of the trappings of modern recording technology and elected to cut the record live in the studio.

'It was a different experience for me. Just putting people in a studio and setting microphones up,' he says.

'It sounds a bit stupid really because that's what recorded music should be about. But it isn't actually done that way very much these days. It was the first time in 27 years that I recorded tracks without loops or a click. I was keen to pare down the album's sound to its primary elements and I feel this strategy, coupled with the three musicians interacting in a live environment, has contributed a lot of life and vibrancy to the music on About Time.'

However, creating a live environment in the studio was not the only radical step taken by Winwood.

'A couple of years ago I decided that I was going to make a record without a bass player,' he says. 'That in itself, just making that decision, immediately dictated the sound and flavour of the record. There was then the question of writing songs and incorporating various musical styles that I wanted to use. I was keen to take the style of those early organists like Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff, and Groove Holmes, who were brilliant exponents of the style known as 'kicking the B', and combine that with elements of world music and rock.'

To support the launch of About Time and Wincraft Music, Winwood has launched an extensive tour which will see him coming to Birmingham next Tuesday.

With a new band, consisting of guitarist Jose Neto and drummer Walfredo Reyes Jr, a new collection of vibrant songs that make up About Time, and so much material to draw upon, Winwood plans on making each concert a unique experience.

'It is so exciting for me to get out there and play with this band,' he says. 'I am looking forward to playing more of my repertoire live than ever before, including songs from my past that I've rarely played on stage.'

Steve Winwood is playing the Alex-andra Theatre on Tuesday March 2.