Brian McKnight

I didn’t think my career would last this long, and it’s still going.

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.

I was a nerd academically. But I was also an athlete and a musician. I never wanted to be shut out of any situation. I think it was that more than anything.

I am a writer – that is what I am before being a performer or musician. I love waking up in the morning and then going to sleep that night with something that did not exist.

I listen to all kinds of songs. There’s something to be learned from every type of music and from the one making it, whether it’s pop or jazz or hip-hop.

Stevie didn’t use the technology to drive the song. He used it to enhance. I use the tools to further my work, I don’t use my work to further the tools.

I have a deep respect for harmony, melodic patterns and form.

Music activates the brain at a high level.

If you can’t play the blues, you might as well hang it up.

You know at an early age if you have a talent for music.

The essentials of Jazz are: melodic improvisation, melodic invention, swing and instrumental personality.

In order to be honest with myself, I have to reveal more of who I am. This is a part of the improv process.

If music is sound and came from silence, then silence is potentially greater than sound.

One very important thing I learned from Monk was his complete dedication to music. That was his reason for being alive. Nothing else mattered except music, really.

Music is the tool to express life – and all that makes a difference.

The boppers flat their fifths. We consume ours.

You have to understand the styles and it’s good to study those that came before us.

People always ask, “Why jazz?” and I’m like “Why not?” It’s kind of like asking Seurat, “Why so many dots?” I imagine if you asked Bjork, “Why the Tibetan bells?” She’d probably be like “That’s just what I heard.” It’s the same thing. This is just the way I see music.

Do not fear mistakes, there are none.

I have always seen Jazz as innovative.

I’m too busy playing. When I’m playing I don’t pay attention to who’s listening. When I was listening I listened to symphony orchestras, Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Stravinsky. You don’t listen to one instrument; you listen to music.