Cultural Life: Maverick Sabre, musician

Maverick Sabre says: 'I still find jazz a big influence on the whole process of discovery in my work.'

Music: Recently I've been listening to a record with Ella Fitzgerald on one side and Billie Holiday on the other side, and lots of music by Ahmad Jamal. I'm really into old jazz; I find it quite relaxing. It stems from when I was about 14 years old and getting into hip-hop producing. I used to listen to short little tunes that came from samples. So I still find jazz a big influence on the whole process of discovery in my work.

Film: The prison-gang film 'American History X' is one of my favourite films. Most recently I bought 'Rear Window' – I'm a massive Alfred Hitchcock fan. I love that film, it's definitely one of his best.

Opera: I don't really go to the opera, but I did go to see one of my friends in a hip-hop opera production, 'Some Like It Hip Hop', at Sadler's Wells. It was good to watch and very funny as well. The story was based on two girls pretending to be men to get a job, so it was all about mistaken identities.

Books: I'm a bit of a slack reader. I'm reading a non-fiction book called 'The Rules of Management' right now, which is about being successful as a self-employed person. I'm also reading a book by Louise L Hay called 'You Can Heal Your Life'. It's her interpretation on problems in life like arthritis and how you can heal them. I'm a spiritual person and there's lots of self-empowerment phrases, focusing on self-boosting and positive thinking, in it, so I'm enjoying that.

Visual Art: I'm not a massive fan of contemporary art when it looks like someone's thrown something together just to be contemporary. I enjoy going to Tate Modern when I'm in London. I also love looking at portraits – the takes on people's faces.

Maverick Sabre's single "I Used To Have It All" is out now