Janette Mason on ReWired

I first listened to the powerful arranging skills of Janette Mason when I was a teenager, her reinterpretation of Stevie Wonder’s ‘I Wish’ transforming a song I knew well in a way that I’d never heard before (or expected to). On her latest album ReWired there’s plenty of that same skill; the expertise acquired throughout a career where popular music and jazz have always been side-by-side is applied in full force for the project. In this album, various material is taken from 1940 to the present day, styled in a jazz arrangement for a piano trio, and results in something completely harmonically fresh and innovative. 

A few weeks ago I was fortunate to discuss with Janette the influences and reasons behind ReWired, her non-linear but no less impressive career journey, and the role of teaching future generations of jazz musicians…

What were the early influences in your life that shaped your sound and approach to music?

Well, my mother was a jazz organist so I was brought up in a house with music playing all the time. The first things that I would have been listening to were musicians like Erroll Garner and Oscar Peterson, but she was also very much into Brazilian music, like Sergio Mendez. My brother was also a huge jazz fusion fan, so I heard a lot of Earth, Wind and Fire and George Benson. There was definitely quite a mix of music that I was listening to when I was young.

You've had an exciting career and played in various settings, not just jazz. Can you tell us about your career and any highlights? 

I started off kind of wanting to be a composer to be honest, and then because I could play keyboards I started to meet lots and lots of different people. That sort of led me to working within the pop industry where some of my early work was with artists like Pulp, Oasis, Jimmy Somerville and Mica Paris. Working in this sphere then allowed me to move into doing some television where I was working as Musical Director for one of the Jonathan Ross shows, things like that. So I've always had this mix: keeping the jazz on one side, but then also doing more commercially-based music. And they've both fed each other in a way because jazz is a labour of love – you've got to really dedicate yourself to that. So I've managed somehow to kind of run the two careers alongside each other!

Your new album ReWired comes out very soon! What was the inspiration behind this project? And why now?

I kind of reached a certain point in my career and also a significant birthday where I wanted to just have a moment to reflect on what I've been doing. You can just end up getting sort of pushed from pillar to post a little bit; I mean, I've had no career path in a way. So I thought ‘I just want to stop and reflect.’ Looking back, I've worked with all these amazing people, so why not just have a think about all that music, as well as the things I've listened to since I was a kid? For this particular project, I’d decided I would set the boundaries of the music from 1940 to present day, which is a huge body of music to choose from. It was a case then of picking some tunes! I also wanted to very much stick to playing the piano because my last album was more keyboard-oriented, whereas for this I just wanted to stick with the instrument that I grew up with and see what I could do with that span of music.

How do you approach reworking well-known melodies to make them your own?

I think that the key thing here is that the melodies are really strong. So if you think about the texture, you've got this top line of melody and then you can then start messing about with the foundations underneath, seeing what you can do with it. I think I've realised that I have a very rhythmical approach to what I do. I'll often use complex time signatures just to kind of shift the music somewhere else; it's about having a template of sorts for moving it in a different direction. I’ve also loved harmony ever since I was a kid, so I've always messed around with chords. I just find if I can just shift them around a little bit, it will bring out the melody in a different way, but still keep it strong. People usually know the melody, so you can take a bit of liberty with how you approach the other elements of the song.

Were there any particular challenges or exciting breakthroughs you encountered while creating this album?

Actually, I think that the track that was the most difficult was Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Good 4 U’. I had originally started that off as a track for a singer, so it was going to be a vocal. But then we had enough material, so we ended up not using that track and I thought, ‘oh, wait, I don't want to waste what I've done’. So I tried to then change it into a piano-based track. I just couldn't get it to work, even at the point when we’d gotten into the studio we were changing it, trying to get it to work in a different way. So that was quite challenging because I work at home on my own getting the ideas together, but when you put it in front of the musicians, it doesn't always turn out the way you’d thought. At that point you've then got to find another way of shifting it to make it work, so that was challenging.

Lots of these tracks hold personal significance for you on this album. Are there any that especially stand out to you?

Well, I think ‘The Man With A Child In His Eyes’ just flows really well. I'm getting lots of positive feedback about that particular track. Kate Bush has had such a resurgence in the last three or four years and I've always thought that she's such a unique person that I wanted to include one of her tracks on this album. I think, for me, it feels like that track has kind of combined a lot of my influences. There's always been like a quasi-classical kind of feel to it, so that's probably my favourite track on the album.

As a representative figure in the jazz community, do you feel a responsibility to inspire the next generation of jazz musicians? What significance does this hold for you? 

Absolutely. I mean, I teach, I've always taught. I find that a very rewarding approach and I know a lot of musicians probably feel that they have to do it, but I've always enjoyed it. You know, I wouldn't hear half the music I listen to now if it wasn't for teaching, because there's a different generation that I'm working with and they listen to different music. 

I think that it's really important that I pass it on. My mother passed music onto me and I had certain figures in my early career, like the singer Carol Grimes, who really took me under her wing. I developed through working with her and the musicians that were around her. So yes, I think it's really important. It's a legacy that needs to be passed on, and so as part of that I mentor a lot of young musicians. I also do a lot of work around arranging songs and vocals, all of that kind of stuff working with young musicians around how they develop their music.

Is there anything in particular that influences the way you approach your music yourself through your teaching others?

I think it definitely helps in terms of the types of material that you're listening to. I always set up playlists when I'm teaching so that we can all share our music; it's a way that I can share my legacy. I mean, a lot of the kids I'm working with haven’t necessarily heard of Dave Brubeck –  the other day I introduced a young piano player to the very early Dave Brubeck albums which were a big influence on me. They wouldn't necessarily have a route into that music or even become exposed to it. In return, they'll play me bands like Dirty Loops; I wouldn't have necessarily known about them if it wasn't for teaching, so it works both ways! It's a great filtering system.

What’s next for you after ReWired? Are there new projects or any live performances?

We've got a few dates. We have a launch at Pizza Express on 14th May for this album and I've got some special guests on that: Paul Booth, a great saxophone player and Claire Martin, a singer who was on one of my previous albums. 

I've also got another writing project called AYRA which is very female-based, featuring a singer called Juliet Roberts and another singer called Bex Gold. We really wanted to get together and write music from a female perspective, and having been in the music business for some time, we just wanted to kind of come at it from a different angle. That project also features an amazing bass player called Yolanda Charles as well. It's not an all-female band, but we very much promote music from a women's perspective. We've been doing a few performances with that and hopefully we're going to get some recording underway soon. We have a couple of dates during The London Jazz Festival booked in November for that project, so I'm always busy. I like to think of myself as having a bag, and it's always overflowing!  

ReWired is available with ECN Music on Friday 25th April 2025.