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Mathew Scott

So much for the festival season being a time for rest and reflection. Gilles Peterson  has been ducking and diving between the DJ booth and the telephone, trying to cram  more than a week's worth of work into  just a few hours.
'To be honest, for me at this time of year it all goes a bit nuts,' he says. 'I end up doing loads and loads of radio shows because everything closes down for a while.
'There have been four Radio 1 shows, eight internationals and about 30 shows to do for Japan, so it's crazy.'
There's also the matter of planning for a trip to the other side of the world. This month sees the 44-year-old London-based DJ, producer and Worldwide Festival founder off to Australia and Singapore before he touches down in Hong Kong for a session at the Kee Club.
'It's only one night,' says Peterson.  'But it'll be a good one.'
Peterson's frantic schedule speaks volumes about  his role in helping decide what the world listens to. His festivals - which  began four years ago in France - will appear over the next 12 months  for the second time in Singapore,  and also  hit Turkey, Brazil and Canada.
'They're not massive -  from 2,000 to 10,000 people - so that means I can hang around and listen to other DJs and relax into them,'  he says.
Then there are the radio shows on the BBC, and the  demand for him as a producer that led to  his successes with Acid Jazz Records and, more recently, Brownswood Recordings.  Plus, of course,  the constant  pull of clubs and festivals across the globe.
'To be honest, I'm not a particularly good festival DJ,' says Peterson. 'I don't know why they keep booking me. I don't really have a format. A lot of DJs have about 20 songs in their computer ready-mixed and will jump up there and give a lot of hand signals and there you go.
'I'm not like that and I regret it sometimes. Five minutes before I go on I'm still sometimes working out what first record to put on. Or I throw really diverse records in to see how I can get out of it.'
After playing in clubs and pubs around the south London suburbs, where he grew up, Peterson made his mark in the mid-1980s by  dropping the likes of jazz greats Sun Ra  and Art Blakey  into his mixes - music a generation of club-goers might never had heard. He would later help chart the early successes of the Brand New Heavies and Jamiroquai.
Back at the start, it took a lot of legwork - and a lot of luck - when seeking out new sounds or rediscovering music that might have been long forgotten. These days Peterson still  casts his net as widely as possible, but  access to music, he says, has become much easier.
'It's more down to your own tastes now,' he says. 'You get so much stuff chucked at you, from so many different places. Before, people were limited in what came at them - now there are no limits. In the old days there was less choice. A lot of the time you had to rely on other people to make decisions for you. Not any more. It makes it more enjoyable if you love music, but equally, you have to listen to more. Especially if that's your job.'
Touring the globe  helps keep him up to date with what sounds are coming out of the clubs - but Peterson says it's his connections within the music industry that help him keep his finger on the pulse.
'I'm actually more of a live music person really,' he says. 'I hear DJs playing around me when I'm playing. Plus I'll go to the odd gig. But a lot of us DJs pass stuff over to each other. We swap stuff  to do the work for each other.'
And  technology has also taken a lot of the pain away from travelling to the far reaches of the globe. Where once  DJs were stalked by the  threat of overweight luggage,  nowadays they can travel light, without sacrificing the quality of their acts.
'One of the good things  is you don't need to carry too much hardware with you,' Peterson  says. 'It used to be a few boxes you had to lug around. Now it's a bunch of CDs and a computer. So if I need to shift my set a bit for Hong Kong after Australia, I can do that. If they want me to play for 10 hours I can do that, but if it's an hour I can do that, too.'
Peterson returns to the Kee after a successful visit back in 2006 - and he says the intimacy of the club's surrounds makes a nice change from festivals. But in the end, it is all about reading  the audience.
'I like to play for the hard-core people while realising there are  people there who probably don't care too much who the DJ is,' he says. 'So I like to keep the heads happy as well as keeping myself happy. But you have to balance that out with a good atmosphere for everyone.'
And part of the magic is finding that right mix. Peterson reminisces about festivals he has played where some of the acts seem to have got  by with as little effort as possible. What keeps him keen, he says, is varying the act, and taking as many chances as  he can.
'Some of the least satisfying - in a visual sense at least, I suppose - of my sets have been considered some of my best,'  he  says.
'Anyone can throw out 10 popular tunes, shout down the microphone and leave thinking everyone will be happy. It's more fun to go for a more offbeat route - and that's what I try to do.'
Gilles Peterson (Worldwide Session), Jan 9, 11pm, Kee Club, 32 Wellington St, Central, fee (members), HK$200 (non-members, includes one drink). Inquiries 2810 9000 or booking@keeclub.com



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