Traditional bands come and go, or leave the path of New Orleans righteousness, but one hand, led by Britain's best known purist, Ken Colyer, seems likely to go on for ever without changing its policy. Which is to perform, accurately and with sincerity, the original music of New Orleans.

After some eighteen years of playing classic jazz, what sort of satisfaction does Colyer get from music-making today? I went to Hounslow to find out.

"I'll tell you how I feel about it all," said Ken. "It is to he expected that after all these years you get a little jaded at times. But the point is, the band's still working and I'm looking for the elusive thing I've always been looking for.

"Everybody's got his own aims and ideas in music, and mine, I suppose, is to have the Ideal band. I think every unit I've led has had its moments; every band has produced something worthwhile. But I'm still concerned with the mechanics of the music: the ensemble interplay...working properly in the three-part harmony, getting the right rapport. Also the rhythm section...hitting the tempos just right. And the overall swing, of course.

"As for satisfaction, nearly every evening there are some moments of deep satisfaction. A blues will go exceptionally well, or it might be a stomp. You see, you don't play a number the same every time; you don't play it as well one night as another. We don't let the music become hackneyed. We approach it with the frame of mind that we're going to make something of that particular number."

So Ken doesn't get tired of playing the old standards? "If you regard it in the light that each tune has character and you're going to bring that character out, no-you don't get tired. But we can avoid that anyway because we have a wide enough repertoire to be able to vary our programmes from night to night. We've never stuck just to New Orleans standards. We've always introduced a few originals and newer popular songs. Some of the bands choose tunes like 'Hello, Dolly' to cash in on its popularity. I don't believe in that, though I'd play It If I liked the tune.

"I concentrate on interpreting other people's tunes rather than trying to write originals. They come along, you can't force them. I am cooking up another blues, though. And 1 have another idea that hinges on poetry and jazz. I have a few poems I like very much. One is a Kippling, and I've written a tune for it. I'll get the band to play this just punching along behind spoken verse. I'll narrate it by double tracking when we record it, and I'm hoping we'll end up with something."

How does Colyer feel today about skiffle, an idiom he did much to popularise In this country? "We've still got the skiffle group going when we want it, with me playing steel guitar, Johnny Bastable on banjo and mandolin, and Bill Cole on bass. Recently we recorded an LP of it, and then we had Sammy Rimington on mandolin to make up a quartet. 1 hope to get it out next month on our own label, K.C."

It is often said that the classic New Orleans style is a dying music. Does it not then follow that the audience for it must get progressively smaller? "This has been said many times before. It was said just before the Revival. It's supposed to have died so many times. But there's something about New Orleans music that makes it always acceptable.

"It has been pretty rocky for us over the last year or so. But we kept going, and I think this enhances the reputation of the band. So we can still pull in reasonable, or good, crowds. And the people we draw accept the music and enjoy it."

What it they don't? Some say that Ken displays touches of anger when things go wrong. "I'm not as grumpy as some suspect, and most of my bad temper hinges on music. If that isn't right I get bad-tempered with the band, and if the people ain't listening; right I may get bad-tempered with them at times."

I asked Ken if he thought the real New Orleans style was in danger of disappearing over here. He smiled in a surprisingly benign fashion-"Not while Uncle Ken Colyer keeps going."