What do you call music that has the energy, substance and other recognisable elements and attributes of jazz - often performed by people who can and do also play jazz - but that, nonetheless, clearly isn't jazz?
David Grisman's answer is to call his blend of blues, bluegrass European string-band swing and god knows what else 'Dawg'. It's appealing, but the term is proprietary: 'Dawg' is his nickname, and, regrettably, we have only one Grisman.
We also have only one Laurence Juber. Ever since recording an album that had his initials for a title, he's answered to L.J. - so, perhaps, L.J. music is the best way to describe his multi-disciplinary approach to acoustic fingerstyle guitar.
Fingerstyle guitar has become a marketing category in its own right, but it's a genre that appeals mostly to people who play the instrument. Juber, deservedly, commands a wider audience.
Whatever you call his music, Juber, who will be playing the Sheung Wan Civic Centre on November 7, has more than enough jazz in him to deserve a place in this column. 'My background is extremely eclectic,' he says. 'I studied at London University and got a degree in music there. I played folk, I played rock, I played renaissance lute music, and over the years I've played a lot of jazz. As a teenager, I played in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra in England, and that was my ticket to being a studio musician, because I could sight-read and I understood the more advanced X-rated harmonies.'
Today, Juber is established as a solo concert performer on the steel strung acoustic guitar, but he's also a seasoned session man, with hundreds of television, film and record dates to his credit.