I play as I feel.
I don’t do something because I think it’ll sell 30 million albums. I couldn’t care less if it sells just one.
I believe in using the entire piano as a single instrument capable of expressing every possible musical idea.
Its the group sound thats important, even when youre playing a solo. You not only have to know your own instrument, you must know the others and how to back them up at all times. Thats jazz.
You not only have to know your own instrument, you must know the others and how to back them up at all times. That’s jazz.
Too many jazz pianists limit themselves to a personal style, a trademark, so to speak. They confine themselves to one type of playing. I believe in using the entire piano as a single instrument capable of expressing every possible musical idea. I have no one style. I play as I feel.
The music field was the first to break down racial barriers, because in order to play together, you have to love the people you are playing with, and if you have any racial inhibitions, you wouldn’t be able to do that.
Jazz is not background music. You must concentrate in order to get the most out of it. You must absorb it.
The fact that an artist is experiencing the joy of creation makes me feel like we’re in it together.
How are you going to know what’s new to play if you haven’t listened to everything that’s old?
I don’t worry too much about the fundamentalist principles that are in almost any discussion about Jazz.
A great symphony is a man-made Mississippi down which we irresistibly flow from the instant of our leave-taking to a long forseen destination.
And ultimately the people who produce my records, they know that they’re here to serve the purpose of me expressing who I am at this period of time and augmenting that or pulling it forward and I love that process.
Swing is an adjective or a verb, not a noun. All jazz musicians should swing. There is no such thing as a swing band in music.
One way or the other, if you want to find reasons why you shouldn’t keep on, you’ll find ’em. The obstacles are all there; there are a million of ’em.
The genius of our country is improvisation, and jazz reflects that. It’s our great contribution to the arts.
It doesn’t have to be happy music to be inspiring.
If I could read it, I could play it.
Ah music… a magic beyond all we do here!
Sometimes when you start losing detail, whether it’s in music or in life, something as small as failing to be polite, you start to lose substance.
I’ve sung a lot of emotional songs, but when you’re writing it’s very difficult to decide what to reveal.
Women bring something different to an instrument if they are respectful of their feminine aesthetic.
