Sloppy but Famous Contest

improvisation should not trip off either. many musicians can mask their trips(not in classical music though), but making more than one or two per piece is simply impossible to mask! on most of latest live performances Steve Howe tripped to often.
i felt differently and every note or chord played by Leo Kottke seemed sloppy. it might be the certain style or that i do not know or understand...

Martykl's comment above echoes my experiences with Leo Kottke, as well...on disc or live.

I saw Leo in the 70's, 80's, 90's and 00's. Never a problem, though he's lost a step, perhaps.

That said, a friend/student whose opinion I respect told me he saw a Leo show that was lacking in execution. So maybe he's an old guy who has good days and bad days, I don't know.

Both Kottke and Howe are in their late 60s. Musicians suffer from the same problems of aging as the general population and it can effect their performances. It's a rare musician who approaching 70 can play with the same technical proficiency they had when they were 25. I also think older musicians put technique in a different perspective from when they where young. It's important, but they embrace that there is so much more to playing than speed.

More than a decade ago I read an interview with Eddie Van Halen where he matter of factly stated that he couldn't play some of the material from the first few Van Halen albums. He explained that as he aged he just doesn't have the time or interest in playing the guitar 12-16 hours a day. Of course that's going to negatively effect his technical abilities.

in the early 90s I saw the classical guitarist John Williams who is the greatest guitarist (technically) I have ever seen and a few weeks later I saw Leo Kottke and it seemed like he blew ever other note!

What a contrast especially when I was expecting Kottke to be brilliant. I still enjoyed him very much but sloppy indeed.