Sundararaju Reddi

I love jazz because it appeals to my intellect, I like it's history which includes the history of civil rights. I was first exposed to jazz when I started to play a tin whistle, then a flute, then an alto sax, then a tenor sax busking in the street. It's a new challenging skill to be learnt and I can explore a new dimension that is part of me, Jazz. In that journey I've met one or two famous players of the saxes, Jean Toussaint amongst other international players at summer schools with the London Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Also Tony Kofi at my repairman's workshop and other locally based musicians on the same journey on which we may discuss ideas and hopefully on the road to fame. But, I don't think it's fame that we crave, if you're an honest musician, that has to be incidental and not the ultimate aim. The best show I've ever attended was the bicentenary Miles Davis '"Kinda Blue" concert at the London Tower venue featuring Wallace Roney and Jasper Javon. Kinda Blue was the first record I ever bought then a Spyra Gyra lp I think followed by Junior Mance which have led me since in and out of more than one genre. It's constant evolution, its avenues for an enquiring intellect to explore are the appeal.