I sat in with some musical veterans in the late 80's. The drummer was a Professor at the local college (Bill French) and the bassist, Pete Bridgewater said to me... "You got good time." I was playing an upright, and I had never played one seriously. They played a blues, and I did my best to play in tune. Since then, I've come to the conclusion that groove is no. 1... I work at the other stuff, but that's only because I know that my groove is primo... Although, you have to be careful. My ex said to me in 95.. "I preferred your playing when you weren't into the theory and didn't know what you were doing." I had gotten too concerned with theory for theory's sake. Groove is paramount to everything.. IMO.
