Q&A: Gary Crosby

I've always believed that art generally, but specifically music, has a way of taming the beast in man. It's music that saved me in my teenage years and stopped me from getting involved in self destructive behaviour. It was the fact that I could go home and take out a bass or trumpet and engage with myself. In a practical sense it kept me away. On a Friday night when there were gang fights and parties getting raided, I would be at home practising. But in a more deliberate way it inspired me and fired up my imagination.

I honestly believe that art can save the world. We just have to find a way to integrate it into our everyday lives, and not just in an educational sense but from an entertainment and communal perspective too. The jazz stars of today that came through the Tomorrow's Warriors programme have all had challenges of some sort. Whether familial, social or financial – in all those cases I've seen how the music has saved them.