1 Giant Leap is a British electronic music duo consisting of the two principal artists,

Jamie Catto James David Catto (born 14 August 1968 in London, England) is a British musician, video director, photographer, and script editor. He was a founding member of Faithless, before leaving in 1999 to form 1 Giant Leap. Career Faithless Educated a ...

(

Faithless Faithless are an English band that formed in 1995, with its core members being Rollo, Sister Bliss and Maxi Jazz. Their first album, '' Reverence'', was released in 1996 and their most recent, '' All Blessed'', in 2020. They have sold milli ...

founding member) and Duncan Bridgeman.

Career

Based in the UK, the two musicians set out to create a

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradi ...

project that would encompass a CD, DVD and cinematic presentation that would offer a complete artistic statement. The project offers music,

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Technology and computing Hardware *Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals **Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...

video footage shot over the course of six months by Catto and Bridgeman,

image An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensio ...

s, rhythms and

spoken word Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics o ...

content. The band was signed to the Palm record label and its eponymous CD was released on 9 April 2002. It features contributions from

Dennis Hopper Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker and photographer. He attended the Actors Studio, made his first television appearance in 1954, and soon after appeared in '' Giant'' (1956). In the next ten year ...

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American writer known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. In a career spanning over 50 years, he published fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and ...

Michael Stipe John Michael Stipe (; born January 4, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter and artist, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of alternative rock band R.E.M. He is known for his vocal quality, poetic lyrics and unique stage presence. Po ...

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stu ...

, Eddi Reader,

Tom Robbins Thomas Eugene Robbins (born July 22, 1932) is a best-selling and prolific American novelist. His most notable works are "seriocomedies" (also known as " comedy drama"), such as ''Even Cowgirls Get the Blues''. Tom Robbins has lived in La Conne ...

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

Baaba Maal Baaba Maal ( ff, 𞤄𞤢𞥄𞤦𞤢 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤, italics=no, born 13 June 1953) is a Senegalese singer and guitarist born in Podor, on the Senegal River. In addition to acoustic guitar, he also plays percussion. He has released several al ...

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Anita Roddick Dame Anita Lucia Roddick (23 October 1942 – 10 September 2007) was a British businesswoman, human rights activist and environmental campaigner, best known as the founder of the British version of The Body Shop, now The Body Shop Internation ...

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Zap Mama Zap Mama is the music act of Belgian artist Marie Daulne. Zap Mama sings polyphonic and afro-pop music, a harmonic music with a mixture of infused African vocal techniques, urban, hip hop with emphasis on voice. The worldwide success of Zap Mama ...

, and other artists and authors. The band's theme for the project is "Unity Through Diversity". A

making-of In cinema, behind-the-scenes (BTS), also known as the making-of, the set, or on the set, is a type of documentary film that features the production of a film or television program. This is often referred to as the EPK (electronic press kit) v ...

was also shown on the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Chan ...

, which featured some of the effort involved in finding and working with the musicians and other people involved in the project. 1 Giant Leap's "

My Culture "My Culture" is a song by British trip hop duo 1 Giant Leap released as the first single from their debut album, ''1 Giant Leap'' on 8 April 2002. The track features vocals from Maxi Jazz and Robbie Williams. The song managed to peak at No. 9 in ...

" video for their first top ten single, featuring Robbie Williams and

Maxi Jazz Maxwell Fraser (14 June 1957 – 23 December 2022), better known by his stage name Maxi Jazz, was a British musician, rapper, singer, songwriter and DJ. He was the lead vocalist of British electronic band Faithless from 1995 to 2011 and 2015 t ...

from

, received extensive airplay. In 2004, they moved on to a deal with

Simon Fuller Simon Fuller (born 17 May 1960) is a British entrepreneur, artist manager, and film and television producer renowned for nurturing and inspiring world class entertainment talent. He is the creator of the ''Idols'' TV format, including the UK ...

and

19 Entertainment 19 Entertainment is a producer of entertainment properties for television with a focus on music. Founded by Simon Fuller in London in 1985, the company co-produced '' Pop Idol'' in the United Kingdom with Thames Television in 2001. The '' Idol ser ...

to make a second film and album titled ''What About Me?'' The concept was the same as their initial CD and DVD—travelling the world interviewing artists and sampling music—though the second time around their journey was longer (four years) and doubling the number of contributing artists from their debut release.

Reception

In a review for NPR's ''

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

'', Charles deLedesma said that the album and DVD had "an uphill marketing struggle ... because it isn't easily pigeonholed. But that's its real strength, too. This production presents a luscious, cohesive collection of images, ideas and extremely beautiful world music, which flows here with the voices of three continents."

Discography

Albums

Video albums

Singles

References

External links

What About Me? website1 Giant Leap website1 Giant Leap at Palm Pictures
*
Film/Music Project inspired by 1 Giant LeapFull History at Sound On Sound1 Giant Leap at Palmpictures.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:1 Giant Leap English electronic music duos Multimedia works British world music groups Trip hop groups Musical groups established in 2001 2001 establishments in England Palm Pictures artists