Brian McKnight

I think I’d have to say my favorite IWC. They have been around for so long and the craftsmanship is top notch. A watch maker that has been in business over 100 years has to know what they are doing.

A fine timepiece is part of dressing like a gentleman. When I first made a little money, I bought my first watch which was a Rolex Daytona. It was just one of those things that said I was successful.

I don’t care how small the game. I want to win.

I just want people to take a step back, take a deep breath and actually look at something with a different perspective. But most people will never do that.

I wanted to put jazz on the record, all the loves of music that I had on the record, so I could show people I was ahead of my 19 years. It may have been over the heads of some people.

I’m not thinking about what needs to be on the radio. I’m not thinking about anything other than – I’m just going to let this music come out of me and not have any sort of preconceived notion of what I should do. I’m just going to do it.

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of someone else.

Despite the fact I’m a professional performer, it’s true that I have always preferred playing without an audience.

In composition you have all the time you want to decide what to say in 15 seconds, in improvisation you have 15 seconds.

I like chords that are very lush with all the lush parts taken out.

[In 1969] I think lyrics have always been important to any serious writer of music.

There are some people that if they don’t know, you can’t tell them.

Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn. They teach you there’s a boundary line to music. But, man, there’s no boundary line to art.

You have to pack as much as you can in an hour or 70 minutes. This time around it was 15 songs, so it was a challenge to get them all the right length so you could get them all on.

To the person who uses music as a medium for the expression of ideas, feelings, images, or what have you; anything which facilitates this expression is properly his instrument.

I kept thinking there’s bound to be something else? I could hear it sometimes, but I couldn’t play it.

You can be beyond yourself, better than your technique, better than most of your usual ideas.

Sounds of daily life are musical. I try to absorb the intricacies of sounds as if I were listening to music.

Only play what you hear. If you don’t hear anything, don’t play anything.

You never get it figured out. You just keep playing.

Music that is born complex is not inherently better or worse than music that is born simple.