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It’s safe to say that if it wasn’t for Mr. Peterson, it would not only this site that would be musically less adventurous as he constantly has introduced his listening public to hundreds (if not thousands) of different musicians on his show, whether it be the initial murmurings of Amy Winehouse (and I admit, I was hooked when he first played her ‘Amy, Amy, Amy’ track) to whole genres like broken beat (rather oddly unrepresented here).

Anyway, after our hero served his radio DJ apprentice on pirate radio before moving to KissFM and a stint as the label exec at Talkin’ Loud, the BBC had the excellent idea to sign him up and for the past 10 years he’s made a big impact on station whether it was as the sound of Sunday night or the early hours of Thursday and now Wednesday mornings. And with his Worldwide moniker, it’s little surprise that the show gets syndicated all over the world so the good people at BBE have commissioned a compilation CD of some of the most influential tracks of the past decade to celebrate (and a nice touch as GP was there to celebrate BBE’s 10th Birthday Party).

Regular readers will know that there’s hardly a bad word to be said about Mr; Peterson or his show in these parts but in the in the interest of journalistic balance and integrity, after a poll of like minded GP fans, opinion seems to be split on this one. Admittedly, Gilles is still releasing compilations on his label, as Brownswood Bubblers but are they as good as the Eclectic selections? And, it terms of the Worldwide show, have we already been spoilt by The BBC Sessions comp (where’s Vol. 2?)

I say this as a quick check of the tracklisting as you’ll immediately register that there’s a load of classic tracks and perhaps only one or two unexpected ones. That said, if you’ve only tuned into his show recently for the first time you’d be thinking either “this guy is brilliant:, ‘back to back’ with DJ Shadow and exclusive mixes of club classics by Kon & Amir - why haven’t I tuned in before?” or “this guy is brilliant, what’s he been playing for past 10 years on Radio 1?”

Well, if you’re in the later camp he’s been playing brilliant music all the time; originally on a Sunday night (traditionally a bit of a grave yard spot) and in those John Peel hours of 10pm to Midnight, the live experience was more exciting and I admit, if it wasn’t for the introduction of iPlayer, I for one would not have been able to listen/stay awake over the past few years. But then you never know and this schedule positioning has no doubt resulted in the show being the/one of the top ‘Listen Again’ shows (currently, “the filling in between a Mac-Moyles sandwich” on the ‘Listen Again’ iPlayer rankings).

With that out of the way, you just can’t question the quality of any of these tracks (or even that some of the artists have even bettered the tracks chosen); OK, that might not be true of Nitin Sawhney or the Cinematic Orchestra (with Roots Manuva in this instance) but the rest must be close.

And following the modal, nu-jazz, hip-hop start, there’s old style U.S. hip-hop, nu-jazz modal cut-up by Quasimoto and Q-Tip who GP have supported for years. And if it’s not West Coast or New York, he’d have to pick some Philly and if it’s not Jill Scott’s ‘Golden’, ‘He Loves Me’ is just as good.

Whilst on the subject of hip hop, not only did GP pick up on Q-Tip/ATCQ back in the day and he was also there for Slum Village/Jay Dee/J Dilla and a bit of Bossa Nova love is no bad thing and whilst Sa-Ra may not have totally lived up to expectations, he was there at the start with ‘Rosebuds’.

Back in the UK, on a recent show he interviewed Mark Pritchard and Steve Spacek and before Aloe Black had a dollar, Steve Spacek was the top dollar. Any fans of Matthew Herbert (whether as Herbert or Matthew Herbert’s Big Band) will know that whilst he’s always good (the Big Band peaked at the London Jazz Festival in 2003 with the Goodbye Swingtime album if you ask me) but that was a couple of years after, ‘The Audience’ (on the !K7 label)

The other thing that monsieur Peterson has got is that Anglo-francais [don’t be fooled by the Peterson] and that’s led him into some rich pickings in the past. And if not St. Germain, the Gotan Project must have been his biggest ‘find’ (don’t miss the Tango 3.0 The Remix EP) and they are represented here with the classic ‘Tripitco’ (from the ground breaking album La Revancha Del Tango) and he also picked up on ‘Just A Lil-Lovin’ that suffered from all sort of issues prior to it’s proper release (perhaps one of the few instances where a ‘Worldwide’ seal of approval proved to be a hindrance rather than an advantage: hopefully this CD will help recompense a little). And then there’s France’s Sèbastian Tellier’s ‘La Ritournelle’ (‘pinched’ by many more like Rob da Bank) but I seem to remember listening to the show late at night, driving in Cornwall under the stars and too near a cliff edge when I heard GP play this for the first time.

And he’s still finding them with As Valet, dOP and Donso.

Gilles’ ‘Worldwide’ credential are as big as his jazz ones so good to see Fela’s offspring on here with ‘Many Things’ (and check out his new album HERE) and there was definitely a bit of a golden period when Karen P was producing the show that’s probably best encapsulated by RSL’s ‘Wesley Music’ but there were loads more including Little Dragon’s ‘Twice’.

Good to see that he’s got one of his own Brownswood Recordings artists on here with Jose James and ‘The Dreamer’ (last seen in the presence of Gilles at Big Chill on the Sunday - see HERE) and in total contrast, he’s included by Benga’s dubstep car chase theme ‘Emotions’.

So we know that he’s down with the kids and all that and whilst he might have been the first guy to play Amy Winehouse, Lady Sovereign, Amerie (‘1 Thing’ and interview?), Dizzy Rascal and M.I.A. on the radio, I’m more impressed with the Portico Quartet and Rocketnumbernine and Marc Rapson - would it have been so much better to have the Vijay Iyer version of ‘Galang’?).

So it’s easy to suggest artists that didn’t make the final selection, like Build An Ark, Daedelus, Mathew Halsall, Emanative or Robert Mitchell’s Pancea (to pick of just five that would have fitted the bill) and the lack of UK broken beat is obvious (that said, Recloose’s ‘Dust’ is so good, it has stood the test of time - see original review HERE from 2005) but there must be 1,000s more.

And even though you can’t be perfect all the time, you should always have time for Viktor Duplaix’s ‘Manhood’ (oh er Mrs) and Dwele’s ‘Too Fly’ are pretty close to perfect and when you’re picking your Desert Island Discs I suspect both will be high up there - Gilles Peterson, you’re too fly by half: we love you.

Peterson certainly has a huge back catalogue of compilation CD’s including, in no particular order,
Gilles Peterson Presents Havana Cultura: Remixed, Gilles Peterson Presents Brazilika and the two Digs America and then there’s the Dingwalls annual reunion (brilliant session this year with Vanessa Freeman singing ‘A Night In Tunisia’ and loads of old and new faces present - at some stage, full report coming HERE soon) that had it’s own comp, Sunday Afternoon At Dingwalls are a tremendous body of work and this one is a worthy addition to the list.

The booklet that comes with the CD is very good (with lots of old photos and thanks to old producers like Karen P, Becky G, Benji B and current incumbent Alex K amongst others and if you don’t know your Jose James from your Jay Dee - this is as good a place to start your education as any.

Thank you for the Music Gillesy P - allez the roast beef!

P.S. At last! Next week, Gilles has Flying Lotus in session from Maida Vale.

Reviewed: V/A - Gilles Peterson presents: Worldwide - A Celebration Of His Syndicated Radio Show (BBE) Cat. No. BBE127CCD Release date: 11th October 2010
Tracklisting: Disc 1
1. Nitin Sawhney - Tides (5:06)
2. Cinematic Orchestra - All Things To All Men feat Roots Manuva (11.01)
3. Quasimoto - Come On Feet (3:35)
4. Q-Tip - Lets Ride (4:06)
5. Erykah Badu - Green Eyes
6. Jill Scott - He Loves Me (Lyzel In E Flat) (4:45)
7. Herbert - The Audience (6:16)
8. Jay Dee - Rico Suave Bossa Nova (1:25)
9. Dwele - Too Fly (5:19)
10. Amy Winehouse - Take The Box ()
11. Gotan Projet - Triptico (8:27)
12. Dizzy Rascal - I Luv U (4:04)
13. M.I.A. - Galang (3:32)
14. Vikter Duplaix - Manhood (5:50)
Disc 2
1. Sa-Ra - Rosebuds (4;28)
2. Spacek - Dollar ()
3. Outlines - Just A Lil-Lovin (4:45)
4. Recloose - Dust (7:07)
5. Amerie - 1 Thing (4;01)
6. Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 - Many Things (8:00)
7. RSL - Wesley Music (7:33)
8. Sebastien Tellier - La Ritournelle (7:33)
9. Little Dragon - Twice (3:05)
10. Jose James - The Dreamer (7:02)
11. Theo Parrish - Goin’ Downstairs (
12. Benga - Emotions (5:36)
13. Darkstar - Aidy’s Girl Is A Computer ()

Links:
gillespetersonworldwide.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gilles-Peterson/20544755421
http://twitter.com/gillespeterson
www.myspace.com/gillesperterson
Gilles Peterson - BBC Radio 1 Wednesday 2:00-4:00 1st Dec 2010 www.bbc.co.ukThe Roots, John Legend, Shawn Lee and Submotion Orchestra’s Chris chat with Gilles.