Question and Answer

Hi, I’ve been playing guitar for nearly 50 years now. When I was growing up music was a major interest with lots of bands (even big names like The Who and Jimi Hendrix) performing at local venues. This seems to have disappeared now with little interest in music which isn’t a big event. With jazz being something of a minority taste at best how do you see the future for its survival? Do you feel you have a role in this?

I don't worry about it too much. To me, there is now and always has been a relatively small group of people with ears who appreciate really good music. Maybe it is 1% of the population at any given time? Maybe less? But I am always optimistic about really good notes and really good musicians over the long run. I just try to answer to the things that I know to be true and the (high) standards that have been set in music over time. All the rest is just politics and transient culture. Maybe one generation will be a little bit hipper than the next or vice-versa...it doesn't really matter. Good notes are good notes - and I feel very lucky that that is the currency I am mostly able to deal in.