Basically my influences have been American influences. It’s been blues, gospel, swing era music, bebop music, Broadway show music, classical music.
Jazz is not background music. You must concentrate in order to get the most out of it. You must absorb it.
Good Lord’s been kind to me, that’s all I can say. I wake up in the morning with music in my head a lot of times. I won’t say every morning, but I wake up in the morning sometimes with eight bars in my head and I just go to the piano.
We all have to open our minds, stretch forth, take chances and venture out musically to try and arrive at something new and different.
I will search for hidden talents that I didn’t know I had and do my best to cultivate them. I am grateful for each day, and I will try to use each day as a stepping stone to greater achievements.
Musical composition should bring happiness and joy to people and make them forget their troubles.
The ensemble playing is as clean as a whistle. The band plays in tune and with dynamics. Also, there is some fine arranging and orchestrating going on here, and the soloists perform at top level.
Jazz is not background music.
They didn’t dictate to me as to what kind of music that they wanted me to play or what tunes, what musicians that I was going to use. They let me do my thing. That’s one reason I stayed there for twenty-eight years.