Occasionally, when a Very Famous Pop Star releases an LP, the record company holds a preview. Lots of journos — music and national press — sit in a big room and get drunk on free champagne while the Pop Star's LP plays in the background. Sometimes, the Pop Star will descend upon the multitudes, dispensing pearls of wisdom to selected scribblers. This way, we were told, the Pop Star can get the press out of the way in one go, rather than having to endure a week of assorted hacks.

It just so happened that Making Music was the first magazine (anywhere) to carry a review of Sting's new LP "... Nothing Like The Sun". We rather liked it. The press officer read our review over the phone to Sting in New York. He rather liked it.

So when Sting was ushered up to our table, that record review was the first thing mentioned. "I'm glad it takes a few listens to get into — when you spend £10 or £12 on an album, you deserve to play it more than once".

It's a very familiar voice, slightly strained, and with what could be called a Transatlantic Geordie (there's a concept!) accent. It's also a little lower than it sounds on record. So what did it say? Sting's gone back to playing bass.

"I had a two year holiday from the bass — I spent 12 years of my life playing the bass and singing — it's hard work. I just wanted to give myself a holiday, so I took up strumming the guitar which is great, so easy. I wanted to play the bass again, and see if I could reach low F," he laughed.

You think guitar is easy?

"Strumming it is, holding it is — it's a lot lighter, anyway."

Most people think bass playing is easier — there are fewer strings for a start.

"Which bass players have you been talking to? Bass is harder..."

Light entertainment aside, Sting talked about the making of "... Nothing Like The Sun".

"It seems a lot less self-conscious than the last one. With that, I'd put myself in a very new situation, with new musicians, and I felt very self-conscious about it. I liked it, but it was very tense and nervy. This album was much more relaxing, because I felt much more in control. I felt more comfortable with myself — the songs reflect maturity..."

Do you still feel you're a writer of pop songs?

"I don't think of pop as being a pejorative term — it's very pervasive in society. Pop is played all the time on the radio, you write about it, it's everywhere, so it can be a source of information. There is room for pop that's fun, for dancing to, 'meaningless' if you like, but I think there's also room for songs that have some kind of relevancy, that means something."

Sting paused, and turned to the guests from Radio One who were sharing the Making Music table. "Pop to me is a great stew of everything. When I was growing up listening to the radio, you'd hear Kathy Kirby next to the Rolling Stones, Perry Como next to Beethoven's Fifth... For me that was a great entrée into music. Nowadays you turn on the radio, you hear one kind of music all day — particularly in America, you can hear just heavy metal, country, or jazz — if you stick to one station you rarely hear a different kind. That makes for musical xenophobia, fascism — they don't understand other kinds of music because they can't hear it. I think radio programming needs to be much more eclectic. It's not about formats, it should be about people's personal tastes. That — to me — makes for a much more creative climate for music to grow in."

I tried again. Has your attitude to writing songs changed since Police days?

"It's the same. I write songs for me to perform on a guitar and play myself, then transmit them through the band. Whatever the band does obviously takes them into a different area that sometimes I hadn't planned for, thus it's a sort of experiment, having musicians. I don't dictate exactly what I want them to play — although I write parts out, that's only a basis for their creative input. So I've always written songs in the same way, just guitar and voice.

"I try not to make a music you can label... I'm not interested in rock & roll, or jazz. I have a sort of holistic approach, a holistic view of music, rather than a xenophobic, frightened, ghetto attitude towards it. I don't just like one kind of music..."

The new LP is liberally dotted with famous names, including Mark Knopfler and Eric Clapton, who both played on 'They Dance Alone', a track inspired by Amnesty National.

"They wanted to play on that one track. They don't play very much — nobody takes a solo, they just accompany it, and that's a mark of their musicianship and their sensitivity. I didn't want spectacular lead guitar solos."

Andy Summers also plays on two tracks.

"Playing with Andy again was very easy. Andy and I have a long standing relationship, and he knows what to do to please me, and I know how to get the best out of him. We have a good working relationship, it's always simple. It was a day's work — he came in at 12 o'clock, and he was out of there by 8."

Jazz legend Gil Evans is another guest on "... Nothing Like The Sun"; Sting sings Gil's arrangement of Hendrix's 'Little Wing'.

"Gil's been a hero of mine for many years — I worked with him in this little club in New York, with his 15 piece band, and we did a concert — a big football stadium full of jazz fans — in summer in Italy, where he arranged some of my music, and I sang some standards. So I decided to record 'Little Wing', which has been in his repertoire for years. Basically it's Gil's rhythm section playing with me — he organised the song.

"I thought I could kill two birds with one stone: it's my tribute to Jimi Hendrix, who's one of the reasons I'm a musician, and also to Gil — who I'm very lucky to be able to work with. Gil is kind of a saint on the New York jazz scene. He doesn't do much anymore, he's very old, like 76. He came to Montserrat where we were recording — just for a holiday. I'd be producing this thing, and he'd take me to one side and say, 'concentrate on this one move, that'll make it better', and he was right every time. Seventy six years of experience".

"I prefer starting with musicians who don't have a reputation."

The record was a co-production between Sting and Neil Dorfsman.

"Neil Dorfsman is my producer, I hire him," he grinned. "A producer's function for me is to say 'you're being lazy today, you're singing flat, you're not giving it enough power, you can improve this arrangement if you work on it, the song sucks, you suck, I hate what you're wearing'... y'know, he is somebody who's gonna be a disruptive if very strict force on the album. On the last day it's me that makes the decision, but I need someone to fight against me, so I always pick producers who aren't particularly impressed by me... They need to be part of a relationship."

It's a very airy sounding production.

"Actually, recording it was a nightmare. It was easy conceptually, but I was using two very sophisticated digital machines. You'd think that would save time, but it doubled it. It gives you ultimate choice. On 24 track you have to make a decision to have either a or b, but on 48-track digital, you can have a, b, and c, and keep going. One track was on seven reels — it was in different keys, different tempos... no-one had heard it until I mixed it at the end. I kept all my options open to the end. It took four months."

Did you record this album like "Dreams Of Blue Turtles", as a proper band?

"For the last record I formed a band, we did some gigs, then we rehearsed, and we did the album. This time I arranged and pre-programmed everything on the Synclavier, then the musicians came in and layered their performances on top, so in a sense it was much more pre-arranged."

So there's more of your input on this LP?

"No, it was just easier to control. The last album had a very live feel to it — this one is more sedate, and more about control."

Sting is still working with such musical gods as Branford Marsalis and Kenny Kirkland.

"The surprising thing about them is — they're only 27 years old, like they're not old men — they've been brought up with pop music. Branford has an amazing knowledge of pop music, he's a Led Zeppelin fan, a Police fan, yet he's an incredible jazz player. So for me he's perfect, because he doesn't have any prejudices about where the barriers of music are — he doesn't say 'I can't play that, it's not jazz'. He's very open."

Do you ever feel intimidated by their ability?

"You could ask them the same question about being intimidated by my fame, it's equally as fatuous. I took those guys out of jazz clubs and put them in big stadiums in front of 80,000 people. I don't think they were intimidated, I just think it was a new experience for them. I'm used to playing with jazz musicians, I've played since I was a kid. But they are brilliant, I can't devalue that, they're brilliant musicians, and they like working with me, so it's a good trade-off."

Are there any players you'd still like to work with?

"I prefer starting with musicians who don't have a reputation. There are so many fresh faces, kids who can play amazing stuff. It's stimulating for me to use them. I like taking kids into an environment where they're going to be — wide-eyed and full of pleasure, not jaundiced old sessionmen who might play brilliantly, but who are kind of bored with the whole thing. I need that energy. That young vibe keeps me going."

Uh-oh, here comes the press officer to whisk him away — do you think you're getting better at what you do?

"I'm learning more about music. I haven't stopped taking composition lessons or piano lessons, so I'm still literally learning."

Do you enjoy it more?

"Yeah, I think so. Everthing I learn about music, I realise there's more to it — it's like one of those puzzles, the more you open it up, the more you discover inside it..."

And there goes Sting in his blue pinstripe suit and black sweater, doing his job. He might be a nice bloke, but it's hard to tell under these circumstances; at least he made an effort for us. Now where's that free pink champagne gone?