Several years ago, some member (I think it may have been Gary Diamond) mentioned that he would continue to play as long as his rhythm held up (or something to that effect). The statement really alarmed me and obviously stayed with me, as I'd never thought about the effects of age on one's sense of rhythm. But it was enough to start me monitoring myself to see if what I'd always considered to be my "superb sense of rhythm" was starting to be compromised by age. And if so, what other "digital artifacts" age had added to my playing.

Re-entering the world of gigging only strengthened my paranoia, particularly since I was doing all the bass parts (organ trio). Our drummer, though very competent (with flashes of brilliance) plays very complex and sophisticated jazz patterns and does not always provide that rock solid "backbeat" that I'm used to when playing "fatback" jazz organ. I notice that I don't tend to have this problem when playing piano with drums and bass player. The solution may be to find a more conventional drummer but I suspect that part of the problem is my declining sense of rhythm brought about by age.

True, I have arthritis in practically every joint but this doesn't seem to have hampered my finger speed; hand speed, yes, but not finger speed.

Other things I've noticed is more mistakes, ie. one note in a chord will be off because a finger position wasn't "true". Harder to learn new tunes (not much of a problem as we do all standards) and harder to accurately recall old ones. Of course the more you dwell on it, the worse you get.

With the rhythm thing, I've never been able to tell if spending a lot of time playing arranger keyboards (or with a drum machine) actually helps or hurts. The arranger is especially adept at covering up small glitches, especially on (let me impress you) solos 'cause it's not going to lose the groove just because you did .

Still, I keep thinking of guys like Horowitz and Rubinstein and even Eubie Blake that played on into their 80's and 90's. So, I was just wondering; has anybody else noticed any ill effects of aging on their playing and if so, at what age, how did it effect you, how did you respond to it, and has/will it discourage you from continuing to play out.

chas (the concerned)