Brian McKnight

People now have been conditioned to believe they should only buy one song at a time, that nobody can make an entire record that would merit you paying, you know, $7, $8, $10 when CDs in the ’90s were $18, $19 and people bought millions and millions and millions of them.

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’m not sure if Donald Trump is the answer, but I do think that the departure from traditional politicians may be the answer. I’m not sure if he is, but I like the idea of getting away from career politicians.

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

I’m the fifth generation of Seventh Day Adventists and the youngest of four brothers. When I was still very small, we formed a gospel quartet.

I’m not worried about legacy. I don’t even know what that actually means. I don’t think anyone knows. I hope at some point in my career when my name is mentioned, someone will say “Oh yeah he has a good song!” I’d be happy with that.

One minute we’re over here, the next minute we’re doing something completely different. But it’s interesting because you are producing so many things you couldn’t do with analog.

Learning to read music in Braille and play by ear helped me develop a damn good memory.

The melody is generally what the piece is all about.

The human being receives the pleasure from music, not from the argument over what it is.

I played in rhumba bands, mickey mouse bands; all kinds of bands.

You can’t copy anybody and end up with anything. If you copy, you’re working without any real feeling.

What I look for in concert is a connection with the audience.

What I came back to is that jazz is a music to be played and not to be intellectualized 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.

Blues is a tonic for whatever ails you. I could play the blues and then not be blue anymore.

I loved Billie Holiday more than any other person other than myself on the stage.

I’ve always tried to defend the idea that the blues doesn’t have to be sung by a person who comes from Mississippi, as I did.

When I speak of the gifted listener, I am thinking of the nonmusician primarily, of the listener who intends to retain his amateur status. It is the thought of just such a listener that excites the composer in me.

A musician’s responsibility is to get as much of his art across to the public as possible.

I would like to thank my father who discouraged me from playing the violin at an early age.