if they are interested in playing the electric guitar or in singing or producing music or so on, and somehow they should be given that starting point so that they can work on their art. What they do in Venezuela is amazing, for example. And the whole point of that is that people have got instruments to play and that is done across the board. They are just dedicated to music education and here in the UK it is still quite elitist. I know the previous Labour government did have a dream of universal music education for everyone but it started being cut. In theory every child was entitled to free music tuition and it was never realised. The workshops I do tend not to be like that—they involve working with a group in a school or a community centre, or also in the context of drama. So I’ll be working with a youth theatre group where a couple of them will work on the music with me. How do you place British jazz, in the world today amidst other jazz traditions in the world from South Africa to Italy to Brazil, for instance? The amazing thing about jazz is that it is a
global music from its starting point through the links between Africa, America and Europe