Mike Stern

The deeper you get into the music allows the ability to appreciate art and all other forms of expression.

I want the music to connect to people; reach people every time I perform.

I want people to walk away with the same joy, hope and love that I put into my music.

There has always been a tension between Jazz as a commercial music and as an art form.

Of course there are a lot of ways you can treat the blues, but it will still be the blues.

I’d rather be B.B. King. That’s the way I started. Let the heavy metal guys play heavy metal, let the others play the other… I try to do what I do better, not get away from it.

The more real you get, the more unreal everything else is.

If you listen to Donny Hathaway, he had a lot of jazz elements in the way he sang, … For me, the two styles borrow from each other so much that sometimes it’s hard for me to make a distinction. When you hear Lalah sing the combination, that’s when she really shines – when she’s allowed to dip into her jazz when she wants to and then get soulful and do the R ‘n’ B thing.

May your heart always be joyful. May your song always be sung.

As far as playing jazz, no other art form, other than conversation, can give the satisfaction of spontaneous interaction.

A name doesn’t make the music. It’s just called that to differentiate it from other types of music.

Well if I could play like Wynton, I wouldn’t play like Wynton.

Don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there.

Get around, be on the scene, play it clean, be seen, be keen and be over eighteen.

I’ve always wanted a C trumpet on top, to have that same kind of facility without shouting.

I’m more careful about my hands than about what I eat and most anything else, because my hands have been my living. My hands have been able to help me learn. My hands have taken me around the world. So I’m very proud of my hands.

Actually, I think the more Ben [Taylor] sings, the less like James he sounds.

The Blues? It’s the mother of American music. That’s what is is – the source.