Marianne Segal at Topanga Canyon, taken during the Jade tour, USA 1972. (Used with permission)
Fifty-six years after Jade’s Fly On Strangewings, the singer-songwriter on Danny Kirwan, Sandy Denny comparisons and the vinyl return of The Gathering
Marianne Segal started singing in a Battersea basement in 1964, alongside a schoolboy called Danny Kirwan, who borrowed her guitar, taught himself to play lead on it, and years later turned up at a gig to tell her Fleetwood Mac had asked him to join. She and Dave Waite were still a folk duo when their manager pushed them toward an American folk-rock sound, and in 1970 that became Jade, a trio whose only album, Fly On Strangewings, drew comparisons to Sandy Denny and went underappreciated on release before collectors made it a folk-rock cult record.
The following year’s American tour put her in rooms with Brian Wilson, Joni Mitchell and David Crosby. Rod McKuen, who she’d met on a UK television show, then invited Jade onto his own BBC2 special with Petula Clark. The band split soon after, undone by management decisions she and Waite were never told about. She carried on through the Marian Segal Band, sessions with Jeff Wayne and a young Julian Mendelsohn, with the bulk of her work collected on Cherry Red’s three-disc anthology in 2017.
Her album The Gathering began as a self-released CD, but now Fruits de Mer Records is giving it a proper vinyl release. Marianne Segal spoke to Jason Barnard.
The Gathering first appeared as a self-released CD nearly twenty years ago. What made this the right moment to hand it to Fruits de Mer for a remaster, remix and 300-run vinyl pressing rather than leave it as it was?
I was looking through a stack of CDs and one literally fell into my lap and it was labelled: ‘Dreamer’s rock ending.’ I couldn’t remember what that was about at all and so I played it and realised it was an unused extension-end to the song Dreamers. I thought, ‘Wow, this needs to be edited on!’ (Lovely guitar work from Root Cartwright!) I went into RMS studios and edited it onto the track, with Andy Le Vien.
I sent this version to Richard Allen for his reaction. He loved it. So, with this response, I listened to the whole album and scrutinised every part. I then booked time in RMS studios with Andy. I hadn’t listened to the tracks for a long time; I don’t listen to my own work very much when it’s done because as you know, one works so closely with the music, with the writing, the arranging, the recording, the mixing, playback, that in a way I’ve had enough for a while. Yes, so that’s how the 20 years went by! I also hadn’t promoted the album enough at the time. This I do know.
To have an offer to have the album put out on vinyl after 20 years, well, I thought that was amazing.
What’s changed between that original CD and this edition, beyond the remix and remaster? Is there new material in there, or reworked versions of what was already written?
Yes, there’s the added piece I mentioned before, on the end of Dreamers and also changes to my opening guitar on the same song. I wanted to set the opening feel a little more dream-like for the first words to the song. Also, we added an end-extension onto Root People with extra backing vocals, more of Bill Steer’s guitar and Will’s recorders, and yes, it is, I feel, saying something more, rather than just fading out. On Lapis Wings there are extra backing vocals on a verse – adding a harmony line to lift a particular area of the song. We had to drop a vignette to fit the timing for each side of a vinyl. (Too long and it affects the sound, as you know.) And we swapped a vignette around to a different place. I thought a lute vignette would be a better match to play into Lapis Wings. Andy, who originally mastered the album in 2007, remastered the sound again – so 20 years on we made a few changes, taking it a step forward in the right direction – I hope.
Circulus, Root Cartwright and Bill Steer make for an unusual cast. How did that lineup come together, and was ‘Root People’ written with Root Cartwright specifically in mind?
Yes, Root Cartwright and Bill Steer… maybe an unusual cast, though on the Jade album in 1971, we did have some very funky musicians as well – so not so unusual for me really. I got in touch with Root Cartwright with a view to doing a track with him on The Gathering. We’ve been in touch now since 1974 working together on and off, live work, you know, and so I really did want him playing on the Gathering album, so that’s how that happened. Michael Tyack had the ‘soundscape’ in his mind, the sound for the album, and he pulled in some musicians that he quite fancied having and one of them was Bill Steer and of course Bill played a lovely guitar on the album and a great harmonica as well – with, of course, musicians from Michael’s band Circulus and Mike Porter on mouth-harp. I was really happy to hear that sound fitting into the arrangements. It reminded me of my early love of that very sound on Buffy Sainte-Marie’s albums.
No, Root People wasn’t written for Root Cartwright, no, not at all – nice thought! It was written quite a few years ago as a children’s poem/song. I wrote it in the car, tapping on the steering wheel whilst waiting in a big traffic queue in Mitcham. I got very bored and was tapping on the wheel and I started to write Root People, that’s how that happened – but it wasn’t for Root, umm maybe, maybe it suits him. He was a keen gardener.
You’d worked with Circulus on ‘Swallow’ in 2005. What drew you back to them for this one?
Yes, I was introduced to Michael Tyack and other members of Circulus by Richard Allen – Michael was a fan of the songs of Jade. They asked me to do a song on their album and Michael chose the song ‘Swallow’ from one of my demos. I’m just thinking back to 2004 – Jade did a reunion gig of course, and Michael did the lovely oil-light-visuals behind us on stage. So, we recorded ‘Swallow’ and it went well and that’s the occasion, when the photo was taken; the one which we have used for the new Gathering vinyl cover. We went off after the recording, for a photo session.
I was talking to Rod Edwards, um and Mike Sanderson, violin, during our rehearsals for the Jade reunion gig in 2004, about the possibility of recording a new album. I also got talking to Graeme Taylor um you know, sharing my thoughts on how to approach this album; but Richard came back and said he thought that it would be a good idea for me to work with Michael Tyack, and have a sort of a really different approach to the album. So, I thought about that and met up with Michael.
Fruits de Mer built its reputation on psych and prog reissues. Does that feel like the natural home for this record, given where Jade and the original Gathering sat?
Yes, psychedelic and progressive music – well we’ve sometimes been written about in music magazines and music books under that description for Jade, so I don’t find it unusual – I think it’s fine. It’s really great that Keith Jones at Fruits de Mer liked the album when Richard sent it to him – liked it enough to put it out onto vinyl, so you see, that’s the lovely thing, isn’t it? To have your album out on vinyl in 2026, I’m very pleased.
You started singing with school friends in the basement of your family’s shop in Battersea in 1964. Danny Kirwan was in that same group, starting out on drums before he asked to borrow your guitar and mastered that too. What do you remember of him then?
Yes, we were rehearsing in the basement of the shop my family were managing – a nice big basement and originally it was the boys who lived next door who asked to rehearse there. They then invited some friends from school, Malcolm Laws and Roger Lang – I stayed in touch with them both, all these years, (Roger in theatre and Malcolm with music) and of course the 3rd person was Danny Kirwan. I remember them standing there while we were playing – they had their school blazers on, and their school bags; Danny was just grinning, he had this lovely smile – a very gentle soul actually – sparkly eyes. He spoke almost apologetically you know, when he spoke to you – really sensitive soul. The following week Danny turned up with a set of drums, put them up, and the boys got me a self-made microphone (a handpiece taken from one of the old telephone boxes!) and we started rehearsing Chuck Berry songs, a couple of Joan Baez songs.
Danny was just into his playing the drums, didn’t talk much, just smiled a lot and of course they’d discuss the arrangements etc. One week when we were packing up the equipment, he came over to me and asked if I would mind lending him my guitar. I was a bit surprised but said yes of course – slightly reluctantly because I didn’t have another guitar. He had it for some weeks but the timing was good, as we had our school exams – we weren’t rehearsing, and then when we finally met up again, he started playing my guitar and showing me how he was doing – he was playing lead, all up the neck you know; I was very impressed because I am and was a rhythm guitarist, more into percussive playing. But there was Danny and he was laughing and smiling, he was happy on the guitar. He had this quiet, breathy laugh, rather than a loud laugh.
I don’t remember seeing him again until he found me at the Nag’s Head in Battersea with Jade at a gig, about 4 or 5 years later. So, we’d all grown up a bit, and unbeknown to each other, had both pursued music and were both doing gigs. He came there to tell me that Fleetwood Mac had asked him to join them. That was just fantastic you know! He was his usual quiet self, sort of shuffling on his feet and looking at the floor, but clearly, when I looked him in the eye, he was over the moon. I think we had a hug and lots of smiles – yes, a nice person, Danny, in the days that I knew him. Very nice person.
Your first public performance was at the Nag’s Head Folk and Blues club in 1965, with Malcolm Laws. What was that room like?
The club room was upstairs from the main bar. Not a large room but big enough. You paid at the door and there were about seven or eight small round tables situated in front of the stage which was just a low stage. The tables had candles lit, in little glass dishes, so it was all sort of dark and lovely – atmospheric. The stage was narrow and long. Where the artists sat to get ready was off stage to the left – there was a small room there, and that was about it. The club was run by David Jones and Colin Deacon. There was of course the Blues club run by someone else on a different night.
By 1966 you were playing Battersea Town Hall alongside Alex Campbell, on a bill that also had Chicken Shack with Christine McVie. Did that feel significant at the time, or just another gig on a busy circuit?
That gig at Battersea Town Hall felt very relevant, very significant. I had only been singing in a few folk clubs and I really hadn’t had much exposure if you like, to audiences – you know what it’s like, after some time you become more settled with yourself as an artist and know more, how to work with audiences. And so, suddenly to do Battersea Town Hall out of the blue was quite something. I think I handled it well. I don’t know how old I was, 18, maybe 19. I did my set of songs and then watched Chicken Shack and Alex Campbell afterwards. Yes, it was a good evening; my parents were there in the audience.
Buffy Sainte-Marie, the Farinas, Dylan and later Joni Mitchell all shaped your sound early on. Was there one record among those that changed how you thought about writing songs?
Yes, there was much coming over from the USA and Canada that inspired me – singer songwriters. I cannot choose one album that might have changed how I was writing songs. That’s because it’s not just the lyrics and the music – it’s also the sound of the production and the arrangement of each song.
So, I will list here for you if I may, albums that inspired me during my early days of songwriting, for various reasons; and I still have the originals in my record collection. In no particular order: Little Wheel Spin and Spin and Many a Mile both by Buffy Sainte-Marie. Celebrations for a Grey Day by Richard and Mimi Farina. The Freewheelin by Bob Dylan. Song to a Seagull by Joni Mitchell. Goodbye & Hello by Tim Buckley.
I have always, and still do, adore The Stones! (Just thought I’d mention this!)
My father played a lot of classical music – arias and operettas. Some real heart-wrenching melodies! I also enjoyed the words and music to Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. I loved the humour within the musical scores. I am sure I was influenced by classical music. And I am sure the humour of wordsmith W. S. Gilbert has influenced me with the humorous poetry I have written over the years.
You’ve said you weren’t confident performing your own songs live until Dave Waite encouraged you to include them in 1968. What was it about his encouragement that got you there?
It was Colin Deacon who said to me one day, ‘You know you’ve got to start writing!’ And that seemed a million miles away. I laughed at him. I said, ‘No, I can’t do that!’
I had been writing since I was a very young child, poetry and stories, and winning prizes for them, but as a child, that all seemed a natural thing. I never thought I’d be a songwriter. Shortly after Colin Deacon (part of my management team) had urged me to write, I wrote my very first song, The Milkwood Dragon, and played it to him. He gave me encouragement and from there on, I was writing a lot more. I didn’t feel brave enough to sing them to audiences, but Dave and I finally started with one or two within our music sets and they fitted in fine! Then, with Dave Waite’s encouragement I continued on and we added more and more as time went by. The songs were received well by the audiences; and so, well, on it went from there.
The 1969 DJM sessions with Jon Miller produced three tracks with Phil Dennys’ orchestration and players like Herbie Flowers and Barry Morgan, none of which came out. Do you know why they were shelved?
I found some acetates recently – I think that was for Polygram. Yes, these three tracks were recorded for Polygram and I don’t remember much about it to be really honest with you. I knew nothing about the deal at the time and I don’t know what happened regarding the shelving of those tracks. I don’t remember Jon, our manager, discussing any details of this with me.
Jon Miller pushed you and Dave away from the American folk sound and brought in Rod Edwards to make Jade. How much did that shift feel like your own creative direction, and how much felt imposed?
I think, Jason, that it’s the other way round. Jon Miller, our manager, and Rod Edwards were influenced by the American folk-rock sound and wanted to guide David and me into that sound. I think that’s the way round it was and I didn’t mind because, as you know, I was very fond of some of the American/Canadian folk singers, including the sounds of the Byrds, the Mamas and the Papas and others mentioned earlier. So, he actually took us away from the British folk music sounds, towards this American sound. He brought Rod Edwards in to make us a trio and called us Jade. David and I knew very little about Jon’s plans until we started rehearsals for the Jade album. Luckily, I had enough material and we started teaching the songs to Rod, (and Rod’s brother Gary, when Rod wasn’t able to gig).
Rod had a songwriting partner, Roger Hand, and we initially knew nothing of this. Knowing that would have alerted us to the fact that Jade was only temporary for Rod. Much of the business side of things was kept from David and me. I had to trust in those days.
I heard many years later that Elton John had offered to play on Jade’s album. Elton was doing some session-playing around this time and we were signed to DJM as were Elton and Bernie. Don’t know how I received this information, but I was very surprised to think this may have taken place. Elton and I used to bump into each other when we were recording in the same studios.
Fly On Strangewings was recorded at Trident in March 1970 with the best session players, Pete Sears, Terry Cox and Clem Cattini among them. What’s your memory from those sessions?
Yes, my memories of those sessions were that they were good. We would stand around the keyboards to sing and check our harmonies; then initially I would lay down the basic track with my acoustic guitar and sometimes together with David’s guitar – sometimes the piano laid down basic track. Then, the other musicians would build around this.
I remember John Martyn and Doris Henderson from Eclection popping by during one of our breaks and another time, Harry Reyolds (I believe). Michael Rosen from Eclection played guitar on the Jade album. Robin Cable the engineer was good company and very much into the recording of the tracks. We had set recording times for each day, and Jon stuck to this. We ate lunch at Cranks each day (a pioneering, British vegetarian and wholefood restaurant in Carnaby Street.) I can still remember the smell of the fantastic salads and dressings, when we walked in! I think this food kept us going well for the recordings. There were no problems – the recordings went well.
Rod McKuen recorded both ‘Fly Me to the North’ and ‘Mrs Adams’, and got you onto his BBC2 special with Petula Clark at such short notice that Pan’s People had to drop a number. Take me through that whole episode.
Do you know it’s taken me all this time to find out for sure which dance group was on the Rod McKuen BBC TV special in 1971. It wasn’t Pan’s People, it was The Young Generation and it was AI that gave me that on Google!
We met Rod McKuen on a TV show in the north of England – it might have been Tyne-Tees Television. We got along well and we flew back together on the same plane and chatted. Rod asked for a contact number for us and he contacted us very shortly after we’d got back and invited us round to his flat in London. He said that he wanted to record two of my songs, which was obviously lovely and he also wanted Jade to join him on his BBC2 TV Special with Petula Clark. This was being recorded in a day or two, so we were squeezed in very quickly! The Young Generation dropped one of their dances to make a space for Jade! Stewart Morris produced the show. He asked me to remove my guitar and sing with a mike. I protested! He insisted! And won! Petula Clark was lovely.
That’s the story, and we stayed friends with Rod McKuen over the years, visiting him when we were in L.A. during our tour in the summer of 1972. Rod showed us around his house in Beverly Hills. Later, he wanted Dave to sign to Stanyan Records, his record company. This deal didn’t happen, but the thought was there. Rod was a lovely person. He wrote a poem to me and also Petula, in one of his books. I didn’t know about this until years later when Richard Allen mentioned it and got me a copy of the book.
The 1971 US trip took you from the Bitter End with Tom Paxton to the Troubadour in LA, where by your own account Brian Wilson came up to the dressing room and David Crosby was playing pinball. Which of those encounters has stayed with you longest?
We also played in Chicago at The Gate of Horn before we went onto L.A.
The club owner and the audiences really welcomed us warmly. I felt comfortable and loved playing there during that week! One person in the audience (a sea-diver) came over with a little glass jar containing opal stones that he had found in the ocean – he asked me to choose one as a gift.
Yes, I was fortunate enough to meet quite a few musicians, writers, especially at The Troubadour L.A.
Of these encounters I can only say, Jason, that all of them have stayed with me with equal joy in my memory: Brian Wilson from The Beach Boys, Joni Mitchell, Dave Crosby, Three Dog Night. In New York, in the Village, Dave Waite and I went to a small club to see Seals & Crofts (‘Summer Breeze’). It was a great concert, and this has also stayed vividly in my memory. One evening I was taken to a bar and Crazy Horse were playing – Neil Young’s Band. They were good!
The press was comparing you to Sandy Denny during that period, and critics still make the comparison now. What do you make of it?
Yes, I don’t know where that began, where that comparison began. I must admit, I don’t quite get it. We were singing different styles of songs on the whole. If you listen carefully, Sandy breathes differently to me on lines of her songs, you know, the way she sings; also, she bends notes differently to me and sometimes pushes volume, where I wouldn’t. Maybe because we are both British women singer-songwriters, from south, south west London, working with Bands, with perhaps a similar accent? Who knows! I have an admiration for Sandy’s voice and the work she did.
A little story: In early April 1978, the year Sandy passed, I was thinking of getting in touch with her to see if she would consider collaborating with some songwriting. It seemed a mad idea, but I was pregnant with my daughter and knew I’d be less likely to gig. I hadn’t heard much about Sandy for some time and thought it would be great to co-write a couple of songs with her. Less than a week later, I found out she had passed!
Jade cut ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ and ‘Carolina In My Mind’ with John Wetton on bass in autumn 1971, right as the band was fracturing, and those tracks sat unreleased until 2003. What was the mood in the room by that point?
Yes, we recorded Big Yellow Taxi, Joni Mitchell and Carolina in my Mind, James Taylor, alongside one of my songs: Moses. This was actually the autumn of 1972 after the American tour. Yes, we knew that the band was silently falling apart. I had stayed in L.A. for a month after the tour finished. We did work well in the studio, no bones about that, because, you know, we were professional. Jon Miller was there producing. Of course there was an atmosphere in the studio, but I over-rode this personally because I wanted to get the recordings done as well as I could. You can’t afford to waste time, opportunity and money in a studio.
What led to the end of Jade? Was it the pressure of being together constantly, as the story goes, or was there a specific moment you can point to?
I believe the point was that Rod had only been temporarily with Jade (although Dave and I hadn’t known this fact). Jon wanted me to go solo, musically. With Rod planning to leave to work in the States with Ashman Reynolds, Dave and I had a lot to think about. The vibe from the management was not good and basically Dave and I went our own way. It was an easy decision within the turmoil. We had been successful before Jade, working in folk clubs and colleges in the UK. We knew we could return to this. I should add that Jon Miller from Jade’s management team did talk to me about those times, in 2004, around Jade’s reunion gig, and he was very apologetic for the way things had gone. I knew that things could have been quite different. I didn’t know their problems and decisions. On reflection, I do think that Jade could have made a really significant second album, given a little time to write sufficient new songs and look at the musical direction. We could have done this maybe a year later, say 1973. Still, I believe that The Gathering album has replaced that loss for me, in some respects – albeit some 55 years later!
After Jade collapsed you went straight back on the road with Dave and Lee Oliphant in the Marian Segal Band. What made you want to keep going rather than step away?
No, I didn’t want to step away. Dave Waite really enjoyed live work too. We advertised in Melody Maker for a bass player – Lee Oliphant had just come over from Canada and he joined us. We went out as a trio for a while, picking up our links with the concerts and folk clubs that we had worked in all over the UK, before Jade. Around a year later, Dave Morris joined us on drums, from Guys and Dolls. We toured in Europe as well as playing the folk clubs, theatres and colleges in the UK. We also played on Capital Radio live through the night quite a few times. They really liked us on that show.
The band played the Golden Hinde II when it was docked in London, and worked the same bills as Labi Siffre and Peter Sarstedt. Looking back, when did you first sense the sound was falling out of step with the times?
Yes, playing for the launch of the Golden Hinde in London was very special – very small inside, of course. I was singing somewhere at the top of the stairs with my head slightly bent-over, and with one foot on the top of the stairs and another foot lower down on the stairs! So that was quite difficult to sing and play guitar! It was a lovely thing to be asked to do. Yes, we had a residency at the Swan in Wandsworth by the river for a while. They liked us there, but we didn’t want to be a pub band and I think we all knew that there wasn’t a strong direction for us to go in at that point in time.
Popular music was changing, punk music had arrived, and I believe we all felt it was time for a change for us. We all got on really well, always did, so our parting was sad, but inevitable. I needed some time personally, to think about where I had been and what I might like to do; Dave Waite went on to join a band, a theatre band; Lee went back to Canada for session work and Dave Morris went into a recording situation and some session work, I believe. We are all still in touch and meet up.
Jeff Wayne brought in The Real Thing to back you on demos in 1976. What was he trying to build with your sound?
As you are probably aware, Jeff Wayne had, and still has, his own particular sound. It is distinctive. War of the Worlds, David Essex, Vigrass and Osbourne and many other artists, film and television music – his sound is personal, distinctive. So, when Jeff was working on my songs, in particular, ‘Miranda’, he wanted a backing vocal group singing behind me and he got the Real Thing down from the north of England and also put on some great string arrangements. He did a lovely production for me and I’m very grateful to Jeff for those creative times.
You worked with Julian Mendelsohn for several years before he went on to produce the Pet Shop Boys. What was he like to work with in that period?
Julian was fantastic as a sound-engineer when I met him, and of course went on to be a superb music-producer. He had such a good ear and was also a great person to work with. I remember the good old days when we had to edit the reel-to-reel tape by cutting it with a blade and sticking the edited cut together with special tape – waiting in trepidation, hoping it was right, and of course it was! He was truly brilliant at this. We’d scream with laughter/relief when the cut was checked. We worked hard, and those were very creative and very happy times.
During the booked sessions at the studio, we would work together at Milner Sound Studio, Fulham with artists including Ian Hunter, Linda Lewis, Steeleye, Barbara Dickson, Ian Dury and so on, and during the night we would record my songs. Those were special years for me. Sir John Betjeman, poet laureate, recorded an album there with us. It may have been called Banana Blush. Well, we had a great time with him! He said he didn’t want to leave, when we had finished. I took care of him, you know, fed and watered him and Julian recorded him! He called me his ‘Lavender Hill Girl!’ (I used to live near Lavender Hill, you know, during that time when we had a little band with Danny Kirwan.)
The 2017 Cherry Red anthology spreads the story across three discs, with disc two collecting the pre-Jade duets with Dave as ‘Paper Flowers’ and disc three, ‘Kiss of the Buddha’, pulling together archive material from 1971 right through to 2013. What was it like laying out that much of your own history side by side and deciding what finally saw daylight?
I was very pleased that Cherry Red Records wanted to put out a box set and it was very carefully chosen by Richard Allen, John Reed and myself. It felt good to get the musical history laid out chronologically in this box set. The information for the booklet was very carefully written and all in all I feel Cherry Red achieved something really good. I’m grateful to them; to John Reed and to Richard Allen.
The 2004 reunion at the Tapestry Club brought Dave, Rod, Jimmy Litherland and John Wetton back together. Had you all stayed in touch, or was that the first time in years you’d been in a room together?
I’m smiling when I read this question, Jason. I had met up with Jon Miller probably around 2000 to talk to him about some business. So, that was the first time I’d seen Jon since what would it have been 1973. I hadn’t seen Rod Edwards at all, or James Litherland. But, in 2004, when we remastered the original Jade album for a new CD release on Lightning Records, through Richard Allen, we did all meet up at the recording studio for the sound-mastering. This was when I first met up with John Wetton again. I hadn’t seen John since our American tour in 1972. So overall, we are talking 32 years. I had been in touch with Dave Waite through the years. Yes, it was a bit of a shock meeting up after all that time. It did help heal the damage of our parting ways all those years before. It was cool! We were okay.
‘The Water Is Wide’ from 2013 is your most recent released recording. Are you writing again now, or is this reissue reopening that door?
Yes, the traditional song ‘The Water is Wide,’ recorded in 2013. The session was set up by John Whittaker, who runs the Aldbrickham Band, in Reading. An English Dance Band – I sang and played guitar with them over quite a few years on particular bookings, when they had a full band and also needed some songs. So, they are my friends and fellow musicians and John asked me to sing on this song, for their album. It felt good to be on a track on their album.
As far as new writing is concerned, over the last few years, I’ve been writing poetry and prose, mainly on the subject of the natural world. It felt that this is where I wanted to be at this stage of my life. I find I do a lot of inspirational writing. I have done some poetry readings over the last year. I put together a manuscript of humorous works, initially for children, but as time went on, I realised that it is for any age group. This will go up on Amazon in August/September this year. It’s called: The Day of Delight. It has various artists who have contributed to the great paintings and drawings over the years since I began it and I also did quite a few sketches myself, for the story lines. I trust that it is an uplifting book to have on the side-table. I started to learn the cello – I have lapsed on that unfortunately, but intend to start up again. John Whittaker showed me the basics (he plays cello) and who knows from here, where I go; but I am creative most days of my life. I just love to write. I just have to write and draw. I feel I know who I am when I do this. Musically, I would like to record a few new tracks again. Yes, I’d like to do that!
If someone comes to The Gathering with no idea who Jade were, what do you want them to hear in it?
Ah, I like this question! I would really want them to hear the storylines, the melodies; and feel the musical direction of the album. Words are very important to me. They need to reach the listener, you know, within the flow and hugs of the music. So that’s what I would want them to hear… oh, and, feel the love. There’s a lot of love in THE GATHERING.
Further information
Marianne Segal featuring Circulus, The Gathering, LP. On sale late-September. Preorder now through Fruits de Mer Records
