System X- Beat The System. EFZ-1001
Recorded-1992 Released-1993

Noel Langley Trumpet
Paul Weimar-Saxes
Paul Dunne-Guitar
Phil Mulford-Bass
Simon Hale-Keyboards
Frank Tontoh-Drums
Pete Eckford-Percussion
Recorded by Jon Hiseman and John Canham at Temple Music Studios. Mixed by Jon Hiseman, John Canham, Bryan Evans and Ted Hayton.

I put together System X in 1989, the idea was a new band playing as many original compositions as possible with the arrangement and ensemble playing being as important as the ‘blowing’.
At the time I was working with Noel Langley and Paul Dunne and knew they would fit the brief perfectly. I then thought about who else would fit well into the concept. I called Paul ‘Shilts’ Weimar who I had been playing with a variety of projects, one a stillborn project with the great Mal Maddock on keyboards. Paul’s muscular modern styling on both Tenor and Alto made him a great choice. As part of Derek Nash’s Sax Appeal ensemble I met pianist and composer Simon Hale enjoying his great playing, positivity and excellent musicianship and knew that he would be perfect. Simon recommended Frank Tontoh for the drum chair, which turned out to be an inspired move.

We established a regular spot at the South London Venue ‘The Bulls Head’ in Barnes. The Pub had a legacy for Modern Jazz back to the late 1950s and it became our ‘home’ turf. We played Noel’s lengthy workouts ‘The Bridge’ and ‘Flying Fish’ and Simon got his writing pen out straight away providing ‘Bari By Night’, ‘Once Again’, ‘One Step Further’ and ‘Coming Home’. I got to work with ‘Close Encounters’ and ‘September 1st’ to add to the set. The Band augmented the originals at this time with some covers, ‘Eye To Eye’ by Chaka Khan arranged by Noel, David Sanborn’s ‘Chicago Song’ and an audience favourite ‘Get Loose’ by John Eacott, which was a tune originally played by the ground breaking Big Band ‘Loose Tubes’ but never made it on to an album. It was recorded for a BBC Jazz Broadcast by us in 1995.

After a few years of regular Gigs on the mainly the London Gig circuit, the Band became one of the top outfits to check out on the scene and the opportunity to record an album arose. At a Bull’s Head Gig Businessman and Musical aficionado Ralph Bagge was in the audience and he formed EFZ Records to host the release. After discussions with Distributer, New Note, Ralph started the label and EFZ was born, Beat The System being the first release amongst others by Jim Mullen, Dave O’Higgins and Mornington Lockett.

The Album Sessions.
The Band assembled on December 4th 1991 for a rehearsal and the tracking sessions kicked off on New Years Day 1992 at Jon Hiseman’s Temple Music Studio in Sutton, Surrey. As Phil and Paul had been members of Jon and his wife Barbara’s group ‘Paraphernalia’ it seemed a natural fit for the recording, the Studio being large enough for the Band to play toigether and having a great Yamaha Grand Piano. As much as possible was recorded live with ‘Flying Fish’ ‘Half Crazy’ ‘We’ll See’ and ‘The Bridge’ being entire live takes. You can certainly hear the energy and the ‘in the moment’ playing during these tracks. For ‘Flying Fish’ the excellent London based conguero Pete Eckford augmented the take.

Once the tracks were mixed the DAT tapes were taken to Nimbus Records in Wales for mastering and duplication.
The album was released in 1993 and created some good traction, featuring well in the Tower Records/Jazz FM chart in 1993 charting as high as number 2 only being kept off the top by Pat Metheny with his live album ‘The Road To You’ on Geffen Records.

The band continued to Gig for the next five years playing many Gigs and recording a BBC Jazz Parade session in 1995.

​