Did your parents support you?
I'm very lucky they're very encouraging in terms of education. A lot of Caribbean parents from that period of time, the 50s and the 60s, who came over to England were unsure about what their children should be doing in this country. The main thing they knew is they should be educated. They bought me a saxophone and they encouraged me to have several lessons but their enthusiasm for education gave me the backbone in terms of how I looked at music. It wasn't only being a doctor you could be serious about - you could be serious at being a musician.

Have you got any advice for parents whose children might want to become performers?
The music business can be quite daunting and the school system is not educated in terms of training musicians to become session musicians, popular musicians or jazz musicians yet. Advice I would give is to allow the youngsters the opportunity to play. Music is very important. It has been around since the beginning of time and it has the ability to enhance one's human ability. Encourage your child if they are trying to take that step towards music is encourage them. If they don't want to do it they'll give it up. But give them the opportunity. I know a double bass is kind of big to fit in a small car but they'll find a way.

What makes a good musician?
Enthusiasm, and practice. Practice comes after the enthusiasm. The first thing I look for, that hunger, that thing in the eye sometimes it's the way they hold the instruments, sometimes it's the way they approach their studies. I failed every O Level except music. I mean that was a bit extreme, I went back and did my O Levels but sometimes it takes extreme things to focus your mind onto playing - it's very easy to spot these very special musicians.

Are there any courses that my child can go to help them become a musician?
There are several courses on musicianship that you could allow your children to - there's colleges and courses all over that a student of 16, 17, when they're making that life make-or-break decision about being a musician, can go to. Also you can go and talk to musicians.

What can I do to help my child?
There's the obvious way of taking your child to after-school classes, theatrical drama classes or giving them those horrible piano lessons on Saturday morning. Luckily I didn't get any of those. The child is the one that has that small light in the background, they're interested in music and it's up to you the parent to fan that thing. Allow your child to have that CD, take them to a music concert. Once they've seen an instrument being played on stage by real people, that inspire them to play the instrument, when they have that live contact.

What else can we do?
A lot of information can be found by talking to musicians and it's not just a matter of going back stage and 'Can I have your autograph Sir?' - it's a matter of 'How long have you been playing?' and 'When did you make that decision to play?' and 'I'm going through these problems, my parents don't want me to play, what can I tell them?' A lot of students bring their parents along and the musicians can offer comfort to these poor parents who are going through this worrying period of helping their children and gain in insight into what it takes to be a real musician.

What are the pros and cons of the being a performer?
As a performer the highs far outweigh the lows. The lows are often business-related, a lot of the times we're not educated in terms of reading contracts, who to employ, what to employ etc. The highs of performing music are meeting your idols, I've had lessons with Sonny Rollins and Wayne Shorter and I've met Herbie Hancock. I've lost so much money but what I've gained playing this great jazz music is just amazing and I would recommend it to everybody. But if I could go back again I would do a course in business studies and get to understand some of the ins and outs of contracts.

Why is music important for children?
There's a huge future in music and the future in music is with the students so it's so important to encourage the few that have that special gene, have that certain vision, to go on and make better music. I really think that parents should encourage children to take part in music, from the bottom of my heart I really would try but there's various ways of doing this. I have four children and I don't force them to play music, music is around the house and if they want to play the piano, if they want to pick up a flute or a percussion instrument or strum away on a guitar they can do it freely. If they definitely wanted to play the tuba I would allow them to play the tuba but I'm waiting for them to find their ground and I'm not forcing them. I think when you force children's hands they tend to go the other way. I was supposed to be a doctor and look what happened to me, so for my offspring I try to give them the maximum amount of freedom and allow them to find their own feet.