Brian McKnight

The only award I’ve ever worked for or wanted really were the ones that were given to me by the fans. So, whether it’s a platinum record or hit songs, those are the ones that last the most.

I’m probably the furthest from being romantic that you’ve ever seen; I’m not even close to being romantic in any way until I have to be.

I write about moments, and I don’t make blanket statements about anything because no one has all the answers; nobody’s come up with a foolproof way to do anything when it comes to emotions.

Know the business; you need to know the business side of things.

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.

I kinda went back to that period between ’88 and ’94 where I felt like I was the most creative, without being hindered by powers that be. I was no longer going to try to hinder myself to what I thought was going to be on the radio.

Ahhh – those Jazz guys are just makin’ that stuff up!

Jazz speaks for life. This is triumphant music.

Everybody did something. It was very entertaining. We had a lot of fun. Lot of fun. And there was no segregation, that I could see. I never saw any.

Good Jazz is when the leader jumps on the piano, waves his arms and yells. Fine Jazz is when a tenorman lifts his foot in the air. Great Jazz is when he heaves a piercing note for 32 bars and collapses on his hands and knees. A pure genius of Jazz is manifested when he and the rest of the orchestra runaround the room while the rhythm section grimaces and dances around their instruments.

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

Excessive reverence for the romantic illusion of original thought is the most fraudulent and destructive element in Jazz education.

I would say that a composer writes music to express and communicate and put down in permanent form certain thoughts, emotions and states of being. The resultant work of art should speak to the men and women of the artist’s own time with a directness and immediacy of communicative power that no previous art expression can give.

In classical music, only two people are important, the composer and the conductor. Everybody else is a serf. In jazz, a thing of beauty is created collectively with everybody getting to express an idea. And that reflects what democratic society is – or should be.

Jazz is the false liquidation of art, instead of utopia becoming reality it disappears from the picture.

Jazz singing is like pornography. You can’t say what it is, but you know it when you see it.

What kills me is that everybody thinks I like Jazz.

Music is a verb.

We all have idols. Play like anyone you care about, but try to be yourself while you’re doing so.

I was never interested in singing in the church or school. I was more interested in becoming a musician.

I never have any trouble playing anything I can think of. The trouble is thinking of what to play.