jh:  Steve, thanks for being here, I really appreciate it

SB:  You’re welcome.

jh:  How early did you begin playing the guitar, and was the guitar your first instrument?
 
SB:  Trombone was my first instrument.  Played it in Junior High School, my first year in High School, then I went up in the attic to look for something and I saw a guitar case.  I asked my father if I could play it and he said ‘Yes’ so I brought it down and I haven’t put it down sense.   

jh:  So what made you decide to venture out west in 80’s?
 
SB:  It was a job opportunity.  I was living in Orlando at the time, and I had a job offer from a Manager out there who used to be a Manager for another group I worked with.  His son had a band and needed someone.  So I went ahead and went out there, joined the group with a bunch of different guys I didn’t know, and I was out there for 17 years. 

jh:  You’ve played with iconic artists across various genres of music, from Blues, to R&B, to Disco, to Rock.  Do you think having this experience helped make you a more rounded performer as opposed to playing just one style of music?
    
SB:  Well, it definitely “is was it is”, you know?  I may do some little things in my playing that someone else might not do.  One thing that it did help me to do is be able to always earn a living; because I was always learning to play what I had to play.  If I went to a job and they play blues, or I go to a job and they play even country, which was very rare, but I mean if it was rock n’ roll or whatever, I was able to do it.  And if you did any kind of session work, then I would ask what kind of sound are you looking for – are you looking for a rhythm sound, or a lead sound… But as far as playing the straight-ahead jazz and everything, I just really try to play like the old guys.  The guys I’ve always looked up to like Herb Ellison, Joe Pass, Barney Kessel, and Wes Montgomery.  Anything you learn about music helps you.  There are some little things that I do that maybe come from my background that I’m not even aware of anymore.  But when I play, I sound like a jazz player, I don’t sound like a rock guy trying to play jazz. 

jh:  Your good friend Joe Pass was also your only teacher.  Obviously the two of you had a very special friendship.  Would you say that Joe has, in some ways, helped you not only grow as a musician, but also as a person?
SB:  You get something from everybody, but I think most of it was his playing.  I went to him for lessons in the beginning.  Then after the first 5 years of taking lessons off and on, I just hung around with him.  But I mean, he gives you a lot of things – you learn a lot of different things just listening to somebody talk.  You don’t always have to go watch them play.  You know, they give you lots of insights that you can’t get from a video, or a book.  Some guys can’t learn from those things; you really need to be around someone that can give you some little insights. Secrets that are not known to you yet.  Mostly musically, everything I learned about playing comes from him, because I wouldn’t be playing jazz now if it wasn’t for him.
 
jh:  I asked April Aloisio this question a couple months ago – if you could describe your playing style in just one word, what would it be?

SB:  You know, I’m not good about saying anything about myself at all, because I don’t know how I come off to other people.  Most musicians are very picky about themselves, and I’m the same way.  I really don’t know what its like to listen to me, but I can say one thing:  that if someone’s listening to me, they hear somebody playing melodies.  I do pay attention to song and melody, otherwise you get away from being inspired from that particular song. 

jh:  You teach, right?

SB:  Yes, I teach at Xavier University.  Private Jazz Guitar.  And sometimes students come to my house. 

jh:  I understand an excellent musician doesn’t always make an excellent teacher.  Teaching music requires (among other things) communicating theories and techniques in a way students understand.  What are some of the skills you feel you have developed as a student and musician that has prepared you in becoming an effective Teacher?
 
SB:  I think there are maybe 4 different types of people:  There are those that play very well and cannot teach.  There are those that teach very well, but can’t play out very well.  I guess there’s also those guys who are bad teachers and bad players (laughs).  Then there’s the guy who’s a good teacher AND a good player.  I think being a teacher you just have to have a lot of patience, which I work with all the time.  I really care about the students; when they come over, the lesson is for them and I try to teach them proper technique which I’ve learned from my rock n’ roll background.  I’ve seen players who have had really bad left hand or right hand technique.  They make it work for themselves, but its just not the classical approach to how to hold the guitar and play it properly.  When I studied with Joe, he told me right off the bat that he liked my technique.  He liked the way I held the guitar.  He said I had a good sense of melody.  So that’s what I do, I try to teach the students the way he taught me. 

jh:  I’ve had conversations with older fans of Jazz Music and they have expressed concerns of the music fading away with their generation.  In your teaching experiences, do you see a steady interest [among students] in jazz music to keep this genre thriving?
 
SB:  That’s a good question.  Teaching at Xavier, I’m always excited to see young guys wanting to play – I have this one student – I told him, “well, I don’t know what music you’ll end up playing…” and he said, “I want to play like you”.  So that’s a cool thing to me, because that means that maybe if we get a few guys that still want to play that chordal style, ‘cause there’s not a lot of guys that do it.  You know, most guys are single-note players, and guys that are finger-style guys that can sit there and play chordals.  There’s just not a lot of people out there doing it.  That’s just speaking of the guitar end of it.  Sometimes I go to the jazz places around the city, and there are young people sitting there listening, I think that’s great.  What’s really bad about this particular area is you don’t have a station that plays it - and there’s no excuse for it, you know?  You go to LA or Chicago and they all have a station that plays jazz.  Its an American Artform that should be preserved.  And another thing that is a little thorn in my side is they don’t expose kids in grade school and Junior High School to all forms of music.  Jazz, Country, and other American Artforms, and also Classical, the music where theory originally came from.  I have nieces and nephews who haven’t been introduced to jazz music in school.  In fact they never heard jazz music until recently when my mother played them one of my CD’s. 

jh:  I agree.  Young students can really develop more rounded, artistically, if they’re exposed to all musical artforms early in their education.  Steve, thank you so much for your time!