Philip Henderson
Music, for me, is primarily an avocation and not a career. I don't really see myself as a composer. I came to composition because I felt that the music in my head should be written down, something I had no intention of doing until three years ago. Maybe it's good, or maybe it stinks. I have been told by professional musicians that it is good, but that's a matter of opinion. 
I really see myself as an author and illustrator, anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter much. My compositions are intended to capture (as well as extend) the vocabulary of classic ragtime, early jazz, blues and bebop. In some instances I am also endeavoring to blend these genres and hopefully create a new sound that is still rooted in the old. I wanted to extract all that I thought was corny, overblown and self-indulgent  in the music I heard, and fine-tune it into a new sort of "classicism"--not elitism or snobbery, but simplicity and elegance--with the right touch of earthiness.