One of the things that's clear to me from interviews that I've read is that the more popular successful jazz musicians had audiences above and beyond….

You know, being America, being the land of "number ones", everyone wants to be a leader before they follow..

When you're dealing with music without words, titles are more a means of identification than anything else. What's the point of getting lofty?.

It's something that jazz has gotten away from, and it's unfortunate. Players aren't physical anymore..

The lion's share of what I hear right now are people who, intentional or accidental, have avoided all jazz prior to 1960. And all the musicians who w….

Jazz is so incestuous that it's starting to kill itself..

If I were like a lot of other people, then it wouldn't be fun; but since I'm like me, it's okay..

I like to make records sound good. I'm more like a reducer than a producer. If an artist cannot produce themselves, what's the point?.

If you listen to a lot of the songs that are popular now, there's very little melody in there. People love the beat. But to musicians, it's melody, b….

Walter Beasley is an anomaly: a successful performing musician who possesses the rare skill of understanding the musical process beyond the intuitive….

What is jazz? It, It's almost like asking, What is French? Jazz is a musical language. It's a musical dialect that actually embodies the spirit of Am….

I think that if you keep banging at the door all you need is a little foothold, a little tiny foothold, and then the rest will take care of itself..

If youre going to use standards as criteria for signing musicians, you can sign thousands. If youre going to use some sort of conceptual interpretati….

One of the things that I loved about listening to Miles Davis is that Miles always had an instinct for which musicians were great for what situations….

The whole point is, give me a break with the standards. You go to the average jazz label and suggest a record and they want to know which standards y….

Pop doesn't really look back. It can't. What makes pop work is simplicity..

That's kind of like how jazz is sometimes. You're out there predicting the future, and no one believes you..

Humans are imperfect. That's one of the reasons that classical and jazz are in trouble. We're on the quest for the perfect performance and every note….

I don't care who likes it or buys it. Because if you use that criterion, Mozart would have never written Don Giovanni, Charlie Parker never would hav….

You don't know what you like, you like what you know. In order to know what you like, you have to know everything..

The biggest problem with American music right now, is that kids don't listen. They come by it honestly, Americans don't listen anyway. When people go….