Last Sunday night, right before I started my set at Alcoholiday, I met and spoke briefly with a nice guy about the types of music we both enjoy. He asked me what kind of music I play. I always have difficulty answering this question, because, quite frankly, I don’t know what kind of music I play. I don’t know what to call it. Improvization is an important element, but I wouldn’t call it jazz. Rock doesn’t seem to fit right, either. I’ve had people describe it as new-age before, but I’m not comfortable with that mostly because I don’t understand what it means (and I get the feeling that the “new-age” designation is often applied to music that people simply don’t know how to categorize otherwise). Fusion might be a good starting point, but then what is it a fusion of? I could just say “Stick music”, but that isn’t much of an explanation to someone who has never seen/heard a Stick before.Actually, “categorization” isn’t important to me at all. But, how do I explain these thoughts succinctly and conversationally without sounding arrogant? After a moment of hemming and hawing, I politely asked him to listen to my set and then tell me what he thought it sounded like. Unfortunately, I didn’t speak to him again afterwards. I wonder what he thought?

I have some related thoughts regarding my set at Barco last night, but I’m going to think on that a bit, and put off commenting on it for another day or two.