Brian McKnight

I think the one thing that I’ve learned is that you cannot predict what’s going to happen. You can’t sit back and try to figure out what people want or leave it up to them to decide. When we all started in this business we would dictate to the audience what was great and they picked up on that based on the fact that we believed that it was great. But that’s all changed. What’s happened in the last ten years or so because is that the technology now means that everyone with a computer can make music and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.

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

Most of the stuff I learned to play, I learned in high school. I had a band in high school, a jazz-fusion thing, and I was the keyboard player. I was interested in how the instruments worked and the theory behind playing with them.

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.

The fans dictate to you when you’re done!

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

I don’t have a definition of Jazz. You’re just supposed to know it when you hear it.

Whatever else has been said about me personally is unimportant. When I sing, I believe I’m honest.

If you find a note tonight that sounds good, play the same damn note every night!

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.

It was when I found out I could make mistakes that I knew I was on to something.

I saw music as a way to entertain people and take them away from their daily lives and put smiles on their faces, as opposed to what I see it being now, which is a way for me to actually communicate, and a way for me to tap into my subconscious.

Risk is at the heart of Jazz. Every note we play is a risk.

Start well and end well. The middle will look after itself.

I grew up with the piano. I learned its language as I learned to speak.

I am only a mixture of countless influences and thanks to that I am able to find my own style of playing.

Music is your own experience, your own 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.

Too many young musicians today want to win polls before they learn their instruments.

I don’t like to hear someone put down Dixieland. Those people who say there’s no music but bop are just stupid; it shows how much they don’t know.

Writing is allowing the musical idea to speak for itself.

I am an American citizen and feel I am entitled to the same rights as any other citizen.