[TR24][OF] Steve Lawson with Jon Thorne - Diversion (Live) - 2014, (Ambient Jazz, Experimental, Featuring Bass)

I was delighted to be booked to play at the London Bass Guitar Show this year. It's a wonderful event, and one I would be at even if I wasn't playing.

I was asked to play solo, which was definitely the plan, until the first day of the show. Jon Thorne is a musician and friend I've known for years, whose playing and writing I've admired and been inspired by, and who I've wanted to play with for a long, long time. So when I saw he was there, I asked if he had his bass with him. Which he did.

No time like the present, eh? The plan was that I'd play a solo tune to start the gig, then he'd join me and we'd improvise. If it went well, we'd play the rest of the set together. If it wasn't working, he'd head off and I'd go back to playing solo.

He played the rest of the set with me

This is the recording of it, no edits, just mixed and mastered - this is why my live rig is also my recording set up. To capture moments like this, moments when the plan gets thrown out of the window in favour of a bigger plan. The diversion that leads to unexpected beautiful places.