Ian sary of his legendary outfit this year –
and he took it, organizing a greatest-hits
tour package that hits America this
spring, But he won’t call it nostalgia.
“With Jethro Tull music onstage, I’m just
singing a piece – I’m not thinking about
something that happened 40 years ago
when the song was written,” he says.
amed rock flautist Ian Anderson is
quite up front about it. Long before
he fronted Jethro Tull – often stand-
ing stork-like on one leg in concert, his
signature move – the Scottish-born Brit
didn’t exactly despise celebrating other ILLINOIS ENTERTAINER: Have you
ever had a flute endorsement? Or found
the perfect one?
IAN ANDERSON: Too many people are
an example of what seems to be almost a
watchmaker’s mechanical perfection.
Beautifully crafted, beautifully made,
usually out of a semi-precious or even a
precious metal. So on the one hand, it
F
Ian Anderson
06•2018
kids’ birthdays with lavish cake an ice
cream affairs. But he would at least show
up whenever he was invited. “It was like,
‘I’ll be there and I’ll try to join in on the
spirit of it,’” notes the 70 year old singer
of hits like “Aqualung,” “Locomotive
Breath,” and “Skating Away.” “So it’s not
so much that I hat birthdays and nostal-
gia – I just don’t revel in them the way
other people do. I don’t enjoy all those
festivities when it’s focused on me.
Nostalgia when it’s been ritualized by
others is always a bit awkward.” Still, he
saw an opportunity – the 50th anniver-
8 illinoisentertainer.com june 2018
does look like a perfect musical instru-
ment. But – like so many musical instru-
ments – it can’t be perfect because our
Western scale is a compromise of notes,
and it’s something where it’s virtually
impossible to get the perfect instrument
of any sort. And with the flute, there is no
perfect awesome instant – there are some
notes that will naturally sound sharp or
flat, where you have to compensate all
the time you’re playing. So there’s no real
perfection when it comes to the actual
practice of playing the flute. And regard-
ing the first part of your question, No, I
don’t endorse directly any one flute. I
mean, if someone asked me, I’ll recom-
mend some to try. But it’s about what you
get out of it, because the bit of the flute
that defines its sound and your engage-
ment with is the head joint, the bit that
you blow into. And you know, you could
spend $30,000 on a flute, and unless the
head joint is the right one for you, it will
sound like a $1,000 flute. So of course, as
you evolve and learn to play the flute as
you get older, you adjust to the certain
peculiarities of that head joint. And
James Galway, the world’s most popular
living classical flautist, once told me that
he doesn’t do anything for nothing – he
pays for all his flutes, and he’s paid the
same price as you or I would. And maybe
some flutes do get given away so some-
body can say that they play them, but
that’s never happened to me. And I’ve
always made it clear that I don’t endorse
anything – I reserve the right to change
my mind and play a different musical
instrument by a different manufacturer if
that’s what I want to do. And it’s always
embarrassing when somebody just gives
you something. And believe me, I’ve had
a few musicians in this band who have
been ‘given’ equipment, and then after a
year or two, they decide that they don’t
like it anymore, and they want to play
something else. And it’s just embarrass-
ing. So it’s best to stay away from that
sleazy world of endorsement. Just play