Scott Henderson Discussion

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Scott: Reading your discussion board reminds me, painfully, of the realities of being a professional musician (but NOT a pop star). My father, a professional musician who retired recently, took me (as a child) to the unemployment office when he was between gigs, ostensibly to educate me on the realities of being a jazz musician. This "tempered" my ambition to be a musician, a discipline I've since pursued as an amateur rather than someone subject to the "calling" of a vocation. All of which is to say: I today once again "put my money where my mouth is" and purchased basically all of your blues solo recordings (I've long since had the Tribal Tech catalog, starting when I first heard you guys when I was working as a short-order cook in a dive bar in Vegas in the early 1990s, "Nomad" era). In short, I wanted to declare, publicly, how much your music has enriched my life, and what a small price it is to pay for such enrichment, and how much I respect and frankly idolize you for committing yourself to this life that brings so much low-cost reward to spectators such as myself. And I'm a BASS PLAYER! I feel even more intensely about Willis! You'll never know me or anything about me, but YOU TWO are (musically speaking) the best thing that ever happened to me. Thanks again and again. PS. And even this week, after all these years, I went back to "Big Girl Blues" to cop some licks -- from you and Gary -- and it SO HOLDS UP. It's a masterpiece.

[Scott Henderson]

Thanks Tyrone - much appreciated! We joke around on tours about how unglamorous our lives are, except for the short time we spend on stage. I think some people believe jazz musicians are out seeing the world like a vacation, and don't realize that daily low budget travel beats the hell out of you. Not meaning to sound ungrateful because I'm lucky to do what I love for a living, but the money and logistics suck. I admire players (Ted Greene comes to mind) who never cared about a career, but became incredible musicians. That being said, if having a career means that I'm able to inspire people and add the slightest bit of happiness to their lives, it's well worth doing no matter how lame the money is. People like you are the reason we do this, and it goes back to seeing a few of my junior high school friends smile when they heard me play the Whole Lotta Love solo.

Also, thanks so much for mentioning that music is a very low-cost reward. The current "music should be free" mentality is making it even tougher on non-mainstream musicians. We're eternally grateful to our real fans who buy our music and allow us to keep going.