IN THE very earliest days of rock & roll, adopting a career as a musician used to be the last refuge of scoundrels and scapegraces.

It used to be the case that if you were a delinquent with a charge sheet as long as your drape jacket, boasting an IQ that struggled to limp into single figures, you'd always be able to eke out a living for a while by fastening a guitar around your neck and hitting the open road with a combo comprising three or four other acne-encrusted visigoths.

However, the days of scurrilous outfits such as Hitler nt Ze Reich Rockers are long since gone. Nowadays, by way of total contrast, musicians tend to be the very brightest sparks in the firmament - and there can be no better illustration of this than the fact that no less than seven young local musicians are enrolled at the prestigious Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford after completing the BTEC music course at Weymouth College.

The musicians in question are Craig Lowe (HND bass), Toby James (HND guitar), Chris Malcolm (drumming degree), Stewart Wood (HND guitar), Frazer Clubb (HND guitar), Ross Ewart (HND guitar) and Jack Ducksbury (music and business studies degree).

Thanks are due to the music department's tutors, who maintained a consistently excellent standard of tuition. Craig Lowe has already auditioned for a London-based band through the Guildford ACM, and Chris Malcolm is on the same course as Busted's drummer, believe it or not.

The Lonergan and myself would like to add our heartiest congratulations to the well-deserved chorus of hosannas. Well done, sirs - you're all a credit to your respective bands (which are, in alphabetical order, Chemical Alley, Insomnia, Monkey Wrench and Soulstream).

And now, if I may, I would like to gently utter a small but meaningful wah-hey. Here's splendid news for those of us who like a liberal sprinkling of Hammond organ on their music - in fact, not so much a sprinkling as a backed-up Pickfords lorryload. The Matt Schofield Trio (Dorchester Arts Centre, Saturday, 8pm, £9/£4.50 under-18s/NUS cardholders) can boast not only one of the best of Britain's new generation of blues guitarists in 26-year-old Matt himself, but also a first-rate Hammond supremo in 23-year-old Jonny Henderson, an alumnus of the Otis Grand Band.

Jonny, who has also accompanied legendary Booker T guitarist Steve Cropper, takes care of the bass lines with his left hand, while the coveted drum stool is occupied by the mighty Evan Jenkins, whose formidable CV includes stints with Ronnie Scott, Mornington Lockett and the Western Australia Symphony Orchestra.

A string of superlatives follow Matt and his band wherever they go. Suffice to say that even the hard-to-impress experts at Guitarist magazine have described his playing as 'dynamite'...

Finally, here's advance notice of an all-too-rare appearance by the genuinely exemplary Simon Swarbrick Sextet (Dorchester Arts Centre, Saturday, October 30, 8pm, £9/£8 under-18s and SU cards, tickets from 01305 266926).

Simon is arguably the most consummate musician I've ever met - a truly astounding violinist and guitarist whose appearance at the arts centre will see him accompanied by the creamiest full-fat cream of the area's players (pianist Julie Lewis, bassist Rodney Teague, saxophonist Clive Ashley, trumpeter Geoff Miller and drummer Dave Wallace).

From a bedrock of contemporary jazz, the sextet have the collective chops to venture into improvisatory realms that border on the uncanny, as amply demonstrated on their BBC broadcast. If you look up 'unmissable' in the dictionary, there's a picture of them as a definition...