[ReneCM]

I kind of think that "originality" is inevitable. If you work hard on fundamentals, you will assimilate them in a personal way, no matter what, I think. In some people, influences are going to be apparent. We can't get hung up on that... everybody is standing in somebody's shadow, y'know? But then hopefully you're going to have a vocabulary of stuff that you're trying to develop that is your own.

For some reason... maybe because you're a guitarist, Mike, I'm thinking of the one time I was fortunate enough to catch the great Bobby Broom, last time I was in Chicago. Bobby has this sound and guitar style that is very much coming out of the Wes/Benson school of swinging lines... big hollowbody guitar, etc... he obviously has mastered that vocabulary. Seeing him play in an Organ trio makes one think of a Wes comparison even more. However, the thing I was struck by was how much like and UNLIKE Wes he sounded, simeltaneously. He had Wes's rhythmic feel and a deep, deep, bluesy sound. But I also noticed how much of his harmonic and melodic vocabulary that I was hearing that I'd never heard from anybody before. So there's a balance there.

So to sum up... fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals. A unique bent on the material will come with time and maturity... hopefully naturally, without the need for a contrivance to sound "original."