A rare opportunity to speak to one of the most important composers of our time, a huge influence on musicians the world over.

Steve Morse is one of the world's foremost guitar players. His mind-blowing recordings span 32 years. He was first famous for being a pioneer in electric jazz fusion, then later for his solo instrumental work. Most notable is his work with the Dixie Dregs and the Steve Morse Band. Others may know of him from his days with Kansas or currently with Deep Purple. He was voted best overall guitar player five years in a row by Guitar Player magazine.

There was an incredible synergy of brilliant musicians at the University of Miami in Florida in the early '70s, with people in the School of Music like Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorius, Hiram Bullock, Andy West, Rod Morgenstein and Steve Morse. I once saw Pat Metheny give a clinic at Berklee College of Music talking about how he and Pastorius first got together and he said, "My first day on campus, I met Steve Morse and it scared the shit out of me." That ought to tell you something about Morse's playing, even as a student.

Morse has been the perfect choice to fill the shoes of the legendary guitarist Ritchie Blackmore in Deep Purple. The current lineup consists of three original members, left-handed drummer Ian Paice, Roger Glover rocking out on bass, and Ian Gillan still belting out the vocals. Jon Lord retired from the band in 2000 and was replaced by Don Airey. That's right, the same Don Airey who played the intro to "Mr. Crowley" and the classic piano part on Sabbath's "Changes," and has recorded and toured with people like Gary Moore, Jethro Tull, Whitsnake, ELO & Rainbow. They sound better now than they ever have. These are not some geezers out there trying to keep something going; they are hard-hitting and energetic and continually putting out new music that is constantly evolving.

This was a rare opportunity to speak to one of the most important composers of our time, a huge influence on musicians the world over.

How has it been going with Deep Purple? It seems that you've been touring for about three years straight over in Europe.

It's been about 14 years in Europe, it seems like! I've been with them for 14 years, and we play constantly in Europe. That's really the base of the band. And it's very unusual for us to finally play in the U.S. It's a difficult market, because Deep Purple is branded as a classic-rock band instead of as a current band.

So even though you're putting out new music, do you find that some of the rock stations are reluctant to play some of that because you're deemed a classic rock band?

No, some of them are not reluctant; all of them are reluctant. It's just not the format. Years ago the consultants decided what music...you would pick a brand or a style of radio station and the consultants would tell you what to play. And they would tell you to play one or two songs for each classic rock band. Which ones, they would tell you that.

Is there anything that you feel that the record company should be doing differently in terms of promoting you in the U.S.?

I could go on for ages. But it's not really my place, since the record company has different goals than I do. The record company that is most active is the one that owns the old catalog. And they don't really care about anything except that material; I mean, that's their main focus.

So what would you say your goals would be separate from the Deep Purple project - or is that what you're focusing on?

My goals? For me, having been, for decades, working in the music business, I think it would be valuable to pass some of that on. The guitar clinics I do are a good outlet for that. I'm still looking for a way to get that message through, so any interview I can do that allows me to talk about it is good. To tell young people the reality and debunk some of the myths about the music business and get people the straight story so that we can attract people that are suited for it and that really love it, as opposed to people that want to be rich or famous.

What work are you most proud of doing?

I'm proud of everything I did with the Dregs, but probably there [were] a few albums where it was just me doing the production and no one but my engineer working with me.

Do you feel that doing Deep Purple has allowed you to do other things because it's given you more financial stability?

I never worried too much about financial stability. It's weird; Purple has opened doors for me to do things, but I literally can't do them because of schedule. This band works more than any group I've ever been in.

I know that you are a big fan of piloting. What about the flying do you feel really inspires you?

People dedicate their lives to living in the mountains of Europe and Asia and the Himalayas, there's all kinds of history of people getting to a higher plane by just being up there looking down. And to me, being in an airplane is just like the same thing, except it's really immediate. No matter how bad life is or how stressed out you are, if you can just get that thing up off the ground, everything gets better. It takes you closer to God, and away from the rat race.

What tunes are you most excited about playing on now on the current tour? I'm sure you'll be playing a few things from the latest Deep Purple disc, Rapture of the Deep.

"Things I Never Said" is kind of a shuffle from the new album, and the title cut is also fun to play. Then they let me do a solo thing where I play a little bit of "Contact Lost" from the previous album, and also a short instrumental that I wrote called "The Well Dressed Guitar," very straight up classical rock-sounding. So the new stuff suit[s] me fine, of course; I wrote all of the guitar parts and riffs.

What is the next project you have on the horizon?

I've got a new album that I've finished, but I don't know what in the hell to do with it. It's kind of acoustic stuff that I wrote with this girl singer [Sarah Spencer] that is so good.

How did you end up getting selected for that?

She's just from my town. I knew her parents and they said, "You've got to hear my daughter" and I went, "Ohhh God!" [Laughs] I heard her, and she was really pretty good. So I listened to more stuff, and I said bring her over and let's see if we can write something together. We did, and that first take, just nailed it. This is something special; I have an opportunity to write stuff that I would like to listen to myself.

In our current world of music overload where anyone and his brother can put out recordings, we have the record companies and radio stations shoving sub par music down out throats 24/7 until they brainwash enough people into thinking their latest crap is cool. Then they cite those sales as an argument for not supporting a wider range of musical expression. Everybody needs to wake up and realize that mass marketing of music is not merit-based and is not democratically representative of people's tastes. One could say that the music industry is capitalism at it finest. That may be true, but it has been bastardized by the privileged few to such an extent that true works of artistry, expression or expertise go unnoticed.