At 17 years old, the Chicago-based jazzer Terry Callier hooked up with a local producer and cut his first single. He had been learning piano since the

age of three, was writing songs at 11 and learned guitar at college.

Although this began a run of innovative albums that blurred the lines between jazz, folk and R&B, commercial success eluded him and in 1975 Callier was dropped by his label.

Terry soldiered on for a few years, but in the early Eighties he gave up performing and accepted a job as a computer programmer, studied for a degree in sociology and concentrated on bringing up is daughter as a single parent.

"If I started off now I don't think I'd get very far," he says.

"The music industry has always been about profit, but it's even more like that now."

It wasn't until UK label Acid Jazz repacked modern jazz as a head-nodding sub-genre of dance music that Callier began to be appreciated.

The label reissued 1983's selfreleased single I Don't Want to See Myself (Without You). A run of gigs and a new record contract followed. Beth Orton recorded with Terry, as did Radio 1's Gilles Peterson.

But it was only when his company was downsized that he returned to music full-time.

"It's the reverse of the usual situation," he says. "Your artistic pursuit doesn't work out so you fall back on your day job. My day job didn't work out after 12 years and I had to fall back on the music."

You could be forgiven for thinking Terry would be bitter about his experience, but at 60, he's more content than ever.

"I've been fortunate enough to be able to record as much as I have without a major hit single, LP or CD," he says.

Terry gets up at 6.30 am every day and walks or runs to Lake Michigan. He says that his talent is a gift from "the creator" and that latest album Lookin' Out (released on Brighton label Mr Bongo) is about "looking after the people you meet and care about".

"There's a lot of people with positive energies and a lot of people with negative energies and you have to focus on the positive things in live."

Is Terry more relaxed 43 years into his career? "I'm more of a perfectionist when I'm writing," he says. "But I'm also more relaxed with how people respond to my music. I try to make sure each line is as good as it can be, but you can't make anything perfect. That's for the next life."

"I have a responsibility to the fans, a responsibility to myself, and a responsibility to the music. It's that mix that keeps the music fresh."

Starts 7.30pm, tickets cost £15. Call 01273 647100.