Monk was a genius. I must have played his "Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea" a hundred times and it still enthralls. The sparseness of the notes - lots of space for them to ring out.

I also love Jelly Roll Morton's stuff, as well as early Ellington... King Oliver's band on "Deep Henderson"...

You're a lucky man to have met some of those musicians. I had the privilege of playing with a few of the British jazzers - probably unknown to you - such as Humphrey Lyttelton, Danny Moss and George Chisholm, from time to time. And I once played - on a jazz weekend in Holland - with Bud Freeman.

I still play a little live jazz now and then - but nearly always in informal local sessions in pubs.