Gerry Niewood discusses leaving Chuck Mangione's band.

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Gerry Niewood discusses song structure.

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Gerry Niewood discusses the decision to become a musician.

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Q: “Is that one of the important things to you; is the rhythmic aspect of the music? More than the harmony and the melody and everything, it’s how it feels together?”

A: “Yeah, it has to ... well, it has to have that basic swing underneath it. You know, I like free playing if it's sensitively done and if it doesn't get to the point where it's just anarchical. You know, where different people are just expressing themselves all at the same time, you know, and not really communicating with each other. I like free playing when people are giving and taking, you know, and I like it when the music flows with some kind of rhythm. People should be communicating in some kind of a time, you know, eventually. Because I think music without time is just kind of boring eventually. Little snatches of that kind of playing are nice. It has to get into a rhythmic direction for me to really get turned on by it. I think it's the basic element of rhythm is the thing that really as a child appeals, you know. Well, what I'm trying to say is that, that's what appeals to children, they start dancing to it, you know. And I think it really communicates very strongly to people if you play something that swings, you know.”