George Winston Reflects on 20 Years of Music-Making
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: There's likely going to be plenty of music for the AFI ceremony, but few people can tickle the ivories like George Winston. Maybe that's because he's been doing it for a while. Here's CNN's Jodi Ross.</s>JODI ROSS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Legendary pianist George Winston is celebrating more than two decades of composing, performing, and recording, and he isn't fazed a bit. (on camera): Is it strange to you to be celebrating 20 years?</s>GEORGE WINSTON, COMPOSER AND PIANIST: No, that's just what it is. It could be 10, could be 30. It's just working, you know.</s>ROSS: You don't think about the time.</s>WINSTON: No, it's just now. And the 10 -- and the next 10 years, that's kind of where my mind is at.</s>ROSS (voice-over): Winston is looking to the future, but his most recent trio of records is all about the past. The 20th anniversary re-release of "Autumn," his breakthrough album, and "December," his most popular, feature bonus tracks and lots of extras. But it's his benefit album, "Remembrance," that offers much more than music.</s>WINSTON: I'd always wanted to do a benefit record, so "Remembrance" was always kind of brewing in me. It's just I wasn't sure what songs or who for.</s>ROSS: All money made from the record is for the families of victims and survivors of September 11.</s>WINSTON: You know, you can deal with that with music, you know, sitting -- better than sitting around being mad all the time or sad or something. Glad I've got music.</s>ROSS: And Winston's fans get the music too. On average, he travels three weeks out of every month.</s>WINSTON: It's just interaction with the community which makes the music grow, the location makes the music grow, season makes the music grow. So it just -- I need the sort of DNA of every place there is.</s>ROSS: Right now, he's on the road and will be in North Carolina in the middle of January and Georgia at the end of the month.</s>WINSTON: That's why music exists for me, is to play it live.</s>ROSS: Jodi Ross, CNN Entertainment News, New York.