Q: Can you tell us about your musical training?

A: Until a few years ago I never had the benefit of formal classical violin lessons. If any of you [the audience] are violinists, I'm sure you could see what kind of bad habits I have but don't tell anyone or you'll ruin the illusion that I actually know what I'm doing. From time to time I would meet with various classical violinists when I first started playing, but I was very stubborn...I still am. Of course there were musicians who really helped me get a clue and piece things together but much of my training involved listening to records, playing with other musicians and trying to figure out how this is all supposed to work.

Q: How did you fall in love with this music?

A: [to asker] It's probably the same way that you fell in love with this music...

Asker: No, I'm quite a bit older than you.

Aaron: Well, here's the big idea about jazz...age has nothing to do with it. While it's true that I'm often playing with people who are 20, 30...sometimes 60 years older than me, because I grew up listening to this music [jazz] just as they did, we are in the same boat in the sense that we share some musical influences. As the clarinetist, Ken Peplowski once said, the great thing about jazz is that you can have colleagues who are 20 and colleagues who are 80 and the age really makes no difference. Really, it all boils down to whether or not you can play. I'm not sure if I answered your question, but perhaps I answered someone else's.

Q: Is your instrument any different from the instrument that a classical violinist would play?

A: It's basically the same instrument that a classical violinist would play - 4 strings tuned in 5ths.

Q: Have you ever played a Stradivarius?

A: No, but I've played a Stratocaster.

Q: How long have been playing professionally?

A: Well, professional - that's a very relative term. If the question is, when did I start getting paid to play...I was about 12 years old. I was very bad but the only way to really learn this music is to perform it.

Q: It seems that you often work with Bucky Pizzarelli. How did you first get involved with him?

A: When I was about 15 years old I recorded a few songs onto a CD and sent it to John Pizzarelli...and he actually responded. He called me up and was wildly encouraging. Through John I met Bucky and played my first gig with him when I was 16 or so. The way that I've found this music to work is if the big guys - the true masters of their instruments - if they see someone come along who has a genuine interest in the music, they tend to be pretty welcoming. Fortunately, that's the way it worked with the Pizzarellis and me. I suppose they saw me as this kid who likes jazz and knows something about the history of the music and so they welcomed me and taught me a great deal.

Q: Did you study privately with Bucky?

A: No. When I say he taught me, what I mean is - well, the best way to learn is on the gig. I was very musically naive during those first gigs with Bucky. I only knew about half of the songs that he called but we all start somewhere. I did my best on those first gigs and then ran home afterwards to learn all of the songs I didn't know so I'd be ready for next time. As far as what I've learned from Bucky - well yea, he taught me songs but more importantly, Bucky and John taught me what it means to be a truly professional musician and they did this by example. Talk about an education - that's the kind of thing you just can't learn in the practice room.