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I had that almost exact conversation with Chet at the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society meeting one year. He sat next to me for Martin Taylor's set one afternoon. While we were waiting for it to start, we talked about jazz and he talked about how he had wanted to do that almost exclusively but needed to make a living!! <...>
We all have to make a living, and sometimes doing your second favorite type of music is the one that will pay the mortgage.
I'd love to play jazz, and did it for a while, but I don't know if I would want to play it exclusively. I'd miss the power of rock, the angst of blues, the rhythms of salsa, and so on.
But I'm lucky. In my present situation, I get to play a little of almost every type of pop music. That is everything but Heavy Metal and Rap. A duo can't do justice to Heavy Metal, and I just can't talk fast enough to do Rap.
I can sneak in a little light jazz if I want to, but on most days I'm content to play pop music, and interact with the audience. I give them what they want, music they know by heart, and they give me what I want, applause, love and the ability to make a living doing music and nothing but music.
I told you I was lucky.
Notes ♫