Little Axe

SKIP MCDONALD

• Who has released records on all these labels: the legendary r'n'b label OKeh, the nu-blues stronghold Fat Possum, the key rap originators Sugar Hill, Tommy Boy and 4th & Broadway, Real World Records and the innovative On-U Sound?
• Which musician links Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaata, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, James Brown, Robert Plant, Mark Stewart & The Mafia, Sinead O'Connor, and Megadeth?

The answer to both questions is Skip McDonald, and Skip is LITTLE AXE. Skip made his name as an integral part of the Sugar Hill house band playing on the most influential early rap classics and as part of Adrian Sherwood's On-U Sound crew he has made some of the most adventurous and praised UK music of the last twenty years.

Skip's latest project is Call my Name, a cooperation with Daby Touré fromn Mauritania, West Africa. Call my Name is a 6-track mini-album that captures the magic of this unique creative union, that sees songs - some by Toure, others by McDonald - transformed via imaginative, instinctive collaboration. Crafted in Real World Studio's state-of-the-art Big Room, Call My Name is a spellbinding record, the superlative result of focused energy, creative license and a famously pressure-free environment.

Some reviews:

'Call My Name is a fantastic achievement' - BBC Online

'Leaving the listener wanting more is never a bad ploy...' - Songlines

'The guitar playing is top notch on every track' - Blues Matters

'An album of infectious 'Afro-pop' that pays dues and respect in equal measure' - R2

'A miasmic swirl of sound' - The Independent