Over the years I hope I've become more of a musican and less of a guitarist.
All of music is connected, but a lot of people don't see it that way
And what happened was, it's the same thing an older, more successful writer of ficition might say to a student: write about what you know. And what I knew - of course I knew jazz, but I also knew country, blues and some rock and roll. And that came out.
There was nothing that I ever did, no conscious effort to do one kind of behavior or another, I can't explain what it was, but I can explain that the thinking of the time was that we didn't want to emulate our heroes. That wasn't kosher. 'Don't try to play the old cliches, play like yourself' - that's what people were saying
People like B.B. King told me I was a `star` and told me I was `the future of blues` - and Buddy Guy, too, ... They told me, `You`re it, son; go on out there.
Barney Kessel was 'Mr. Guitar,' the foremost jazz guitarist of his generation. He had an amazing imagination, his solos were incredible, he swung his tail off, he was a heck of an arranger and could out-read anybody.
Steve Marcus was one of the greatest saxophonists in all of music. He truly was able to unite jazz with the popular music of the time.
John Stowell plays jazz, but he doesn’t use any of the clichés; he has an incredible originality. John is a master creator.
Bruce Katz is a spectacular talent! He's a brilliant composer and arranger who uses uncommon and unique musical intelligence to redefine jazz and blues far beyond the pale of the accepted definitions of keyboard competence. Whether on piano or organ, when you hear Bruce Katz you know it's him, unmistakably and uniquely.
