Charlie Gillett remembered

Tributes to Charlie Gillett have been flowing in. Below are two blog contributions from BBC colleagues who worked with Charlie. 

From BBC Radio 3 producer Felix Carey

I had the pleasure of working with Charlie for a couple of years as one of the producers of World on 3 and a session that sticks in my mind was from May 2009 when singer-songwriter Lhasa de Sela came in with guitarist Joe Grass to perform some new material. In the rehearsal Lhasa warmed up with some of Sam Cooke's A Change is Gonna Come - something she had only ever sung to herself at home - and later, in the middle of recording the programme, Charlie asked her whether she would try a complete version of the song, as an experiment. That moment - and her amazing performance - was the highlight of the session for me, and typical of Charlie's approach - he never scripted anything and always wanted to leave space for what might happen in the studio. I think it was this spontaneity combined with his understated, natural presentation style that made him such a compelling listen.

If the programme was pre-recorded he didn't like the idea of being 'de-ummed', or made to sound too slick - it always had to feel as real as possible. If guests brought in CDs for his 'radio ping-pong' sessions he definitely wouldn't want to know what they were until he pressed 'play' on the CD player. Then there was his encyclopaedic knowledge, and the sheer range of music he could bring to a DJ set or radio programme - you might find Sidney Bechet making an appearance in between Tom Ze and Fat Freddy's Drop- and there was always an unexpected connection, or a good story. He never had a problem with the term 'world music' - he firmly believed that if it led to airtime or some kind of platform for quality non-mainstream music from around the world that would otherwise be overlooked, then it was a good thing.

From Late Junction presenter Max Reinhardt

Charlie has been on our radios for the best part of 40 years, part of the fabric of our lives, one of the great radio voices of our time. He was, I suppose, like a wise older brother to me even before I got to know him: an authoritative guide who took me down the byways of r'n'b and rock & roll, and deep into African music and onwards; whose The Sound of the City was the longest non-fiction book I'd ever read cover to cover at the time; who opened up a whole world of music and along the way, I discovered that that was the musical ocean in which I wanted to swim as a DJ.

About 20 years ago I got to know him, first as a guest on his Capital Radio show and then at various nights at which I DJ'd, sometimes alongside him. Any chat or gig with Charlie always felt like a privilege, because of the warmth of his charm, insight, wisdom, knowledge, energy, humility, musical integrity... and because he made such a difference. It's very difficult to imagine the evolution of this genre called World Music without Charlie's vision and advocacy.

Two Charlie gems that stay with me: Calming me down about some encounter I'd had on the radio, he told me something like, 'We're enthusiasts, not experts...it's always worth reminding people of that and if we make mistakes then the listeners put us right.' And at WOMAD last year we were talking about what could be played on Radio 3. 'Its all in our heads you know, there are no limits when it comes to music except for the ones we set for ourselves.' Thanks for everything, Charlie

• The top photo (copyright BBC) shows Charlie broadcasting in the LP era ...