Mike Stern

I want people to walk away with the same joy, hope and love that I put into my music.

I want the music to connect to people; reach people every time I perform.

Sometimes there are no gigs, but the main thing is still the music.

One can be very happy without demanding that others agree with them.

If I have to go around telling everyone how great I am, then there’s something wrong with my act.

I feel that Jazz improvisation is the ultimate. You have to create on the spot, the essence of this music.

Music was our wife, and we loved her. And we stayed with her, and we clothed her, and we put diamond rings on her hands.

I started to like blues, I guess, when I was about 6 or 7 years old. There was something about it, because nobody else played that kind of music.

Keep searching for that sound you hear in your head until it becomes a reality.

True music must repeat the thought and inspirations of the people and the time. My people are Americans and my time is today.

I was never interested in singing in the church or school. I was more interested in becoming a musician.

There’s a category for me. I like to be referred to as a good singer of good songs in good taste.

A drummer has to be kind-hearted.

If I could read it, I could play it.

If I’m not saying it in four choruses or less, then I’m not saying it.

Man, you tell a story.

The blues was bleeding the same blood as me. The blues didn’t have to explain the mystery of pain that I felt; it was there in the songs and voices of singers like Lonnie Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson, in the cries of their guitars.

Jazz music will continue to thrive, possibly in unexpected ways.