MARTIN Barre has left the door ajar for a Jethro Tull reunion with progressive rock legend Ian Anderson.

“The music of Tull is my life, but, at the moment, it looks very unlikely,” said Barre, Tull’s guitarist since the 1960s and whose band play the International Stage at the Colne Rhythm and Blues Festival on Saturday.

“We’ve haven’t spoken for five years, but I suppose you never say never in life, do you?

“We’ve not fallen out. We are just doing our own thing in life now.

“If Ian got in touch and said he’d lined up something really special then maybe I’d do it.”

Over the years, band members were cast aside, seemingly at Anderson’s whim, and only Barre would remain as a permanent fixture in the band since teaming up with Tull for their second album Stand Up.

It was their classic album Aqualung that earned Tull commercial success and Barre recognition in the classic rock school.

His brilliant guitar style on the album Crest of a Wave landed him a Grammy award.

“There is no question that I know my part in the history of Jethro Tull,” added Barre.

“I’ve nearly 45 years invested in the music of Jethro Tull and I simply can’t turn that off.

“I am proud of the albums and the history and it does mean a lot. However, it is what I’m doing today and what I’m going to do tomorrow that is really important to me.”

Barre, who has shared the stage with Paul McCartney, Phil Collins, Gary Moore and Joe Bonamassa, added: “I don’t want to quit and the thing is I’m happy and satisfied with what I’m doing musically.

“Things had just gone sterile with Tull. We’d go out on the road and it would be the same narrow choice of programme. At the end it was just a business.

“It needed to stop and it did.”

With Jethro Tull on hold, Barre has assembled a new project to showcase his solo music as well as re-inventing songs culled from the Tull archives.

“I am writing music now. Sometimes in the back of your mind you wonder, ‘Have I lost it?’ “I then play and play until I go ‘Yeah. I’ve still got it. I just love that.

“While I like it, that is still not what matters most, as you’ve got to get a few thousand other people to like it as well.

“My band stuff is a lot more rocky and we’ve embellished some of the Tull tracks like Locomotive Breath and Fat Man.

“Jethro Tull’s fans have given us the opportunity to do a lot of stuff.

“They allow us to do solo projects and to play with other people.

“We are able to take the music to a lot of places that fans of other bands may not have allowed them to take.”

n The 25th Great British Rhythm and Blues Festival runs from Friday, August 22 to Monday, August 25. Artists include Eric Burdon, Eric Sardinas, Andy Fairweather Low amd Bob Malone. Details from 01282 661234