Jazz is rhythm and meaning.
There are wonderful things in Jazz, the improvisation, the liveliness, the being at one with the audience.
I think we musicians are emissaries. Every time we go before the public, we’re there to make converts.
I can tell whether a person can play just by the way he stands.
Jazz means many things to many people, but it’s all about choices.
There’s so much music out there and so many possibilities. I like anyone who plays any instrument.
The Blues? It’s the mother of American music. That’s what is is – the source.
Musicians have to suffer to a certain degree in order to obtain their outlet.
I’m… a rather simple person with a limited talent and perhaps a limited perspective.
You’ve got to be willing to put stuff on the line, otherwise it doesn’t have much meaning.
Other than conversation, no other art form can give the satisfaction of spontaneous interaction like Jazz.
I cannot play a lie. I have to believe in what I play or it won’t come out.
I don’t think anybody steals anything; all of us borrow.
Technique is the ability to translate your ideas into sound through your instrument. This is a comprehensive technique . . . a feeling for the keyboard that will allow you to transfer any emotional utterance into it. What has to happen is that you develop a comprehensive technique and then say, forget that. Im just going to be expressive through the piano.
I really liked Wynton when I first met him. He’s still a nice young man, only confused.
Music’s been around a long time, and there’s going to be music long after Ray Charles is dead. I just want to make my mark, leave something musically good behind. If it’s a big record, that’s the frosting on the cake, but music’s the main meal.
People like the idea of the trio and so I did mostly trio.
