My Passion with Neil Brosgill: Neil sets his sights on losing himself in music

I was mesmerised by the rhythms and the expression and feeling put into the songs, and my passion for the genre has only grown over the years.

Since then, I have been hooked. My CD and downloads collection boasts more than 4,000 songs, including music by some of jazz's greatest artists, such as Stan "The Sound" Getz and Jan Garbarek, the Norwegian saxophonist, along with newer British bands like Acoustic Ladyland and

Polar Bear.

I often go to The Wardrobe venue, in Leeds, to take in a live performance. I was lucky enough to see Rahsaan Roland Kirk live at Leeds University in the late 1960s.

A few years ago, I decided to take my interest one step further. I took the plunge and decided to learn how to play the music that I'd been enjoying for 35 years myself. I took up lessons on the tenor saxophone. I love the tone of the sound the tenor saxophone makes and although it was a bit tricky at first, I began to improve.

Now I spend a lot of my spare time putting my passion for jazz into practice with some live performances of my own. My favourite jazz performance piece is Blue Train by John Coltrane, because it is simple and recognisable but sounds cool and swings.

I play in a quartet led by my teacher, who has worked miracles to get me to grade four standard.

As a group, we hold regular practice sessions and play live shows across Leeds, broadening the music I play into new genres. These have included a number of Samba performances, notably with the Samba Tigers, and at The Batley Festival, where we marched through the town to the Samba beat.

I love performing live, the adrenaline rush is amazing. Playing the tenor saxophone is great fun and it's the perfect stress release. I can

quite happily lose myself in the music and wouldn't be without it now.

Although jazz is still my passion, playing the tenor saxophone has also broadened my love of music across other genres and comes in handy now for my second passion, Leeds United FC.

My favourite song is the well-known Leeds United anthem, Marching on Together, which I hope to be playing in celebration if the Super White Army achieves promotion at the end of the current season.

Neil Brosgill, owner of Brosgill Opticians