RON Burnett castigates professed jazz fans for not attending concerts by the latest touring groups (Jazz Notes, November 18).

He goes on to describe them as jazz archaeologists, riffling among the dead in second-hand record shops, nostalgic for the music of their youth, instead of supporting live musicians and buying their CDs.

Quite often there are too many jazz concerts taking place at the same time to be able to attend them all. Anyway, I can only afford to attend one a week.

I would have liked to have seen Markus Stockhausen's Joyosa because he sounds a brilliant trumpeter, but went instead to see Alan Barnes at the pioneering Wakefield Jazz Club. That was an evening of nostalgia as Alan recreated the music of the Horace Silver Quintet from 50 years ago. The crowd loved it though it was hardly cutting-edge stuff.

I have to confess myself to being a bit of a jazz archaeologist as I can sometimes be found riffling among the vinyl in a second-hand shop looking for a gem that I may have missed first time round, to transfer to CD.

On the brighter side I can also sometimes be found attending concerts by contemporary bands. I don't always find them to my taste but sometimes I get a pleasant surprise as I did when I went to hear the Colin Steele Quintet at Wakefield. I am not sure that it was all jazz, but it was certainly good music and so I bought their latest CD. The point of all this, Ron, is that not all jazz archaeologists are stuck entirely in the past or are unaware of modern musicians. The age of music is not the criterion, it is whether it is good or bad.

Mick Brown,

Bad Bargain Lane,

Burnholme, York.

Updated: 10:24 Wednesday, November 23, 2005