I began writing music when I was a teenager in the sixties absolutely free of influences pertaining to jazz music specifically. One beautiful summer evening I had an epiphany at a Jethro Tull concert. I arrived a bit early and a friend of mine was hitch hiking over from our small town to meet me. He arrived just before the concert was to start and began describing the ride he had gotten with an English guitarist and a black drummer who were performing before Jethro Tull. The band turned out to be the Mahavishnu Orchestra! Needless to say, I was very impressed. That may have been the beginning of my journey into understanding what sort of musician I was becoming.