Justin Guarini Quotes

The first jazz pianist I heard was Thelonious Monk. My father was listening to an album of his called 'Monk's Dream' almost every day from the time I was born.

I'm working on my new album right now. Hopefully to get that out at the top of 2005, January 2005.

The album is a definite departure. I haven't written original material before, except for one song on my first album, but Elvis and I did six songs together on this one.

So that's what's going on right now, and I'm looking to put out an album within the next six months.

I had a project called 'Cover Art,' which was the first project I did under the new name Anderson .Paak. I went through this process where I was recording new music for about six months straight.

Darlin... be-bop is the music of the future.

There's a Nina Simone record that I love, 'Live at Vine Street,' and she sings flat on it. I can imagine she might've told the record label, 'Oh, God, you're not releasing that!' But I'm glad they did.

Jazz is a constant theme in my life. My father is a jazz pianist, and from an early age I have been surrounded by it.

I love going into the studio with just an idea of the direction. Like, I want this tempo... I love to start from scratch, and the tracks sort of take on a life of their own.

When I came out of the conservatory, the first thing I did was to go see Thelonious Monk.

I could hear it sometimes, but I couldn't play it. I'd been getting bored with the stereotyped changes that were being used. I found that by using the higher intervals of a chord as a melody line and backing them with related changes, I could play the thing I'd been hearing.

If someone pitches me a really great idea for an album, I would do it.

An instrumental album is something I've been wanting to do for a long time.

I don't know any jazz stuff. I don't know how to jam in that way. So jamming, for me, is writing a tune.

I loved Art Tatum! And, through him, and other different jazz musicians, I actually found my technique.

I used to be just a total jazz freak. People used to say, 'Where's the melody? Is there a melody in there anywhere?' Now I let the music follow the song.

I'm excited for the audiences to hear the title track, 'Cheers to the Fall,' plus 'Red Flags' and 'Rearview.'

Whenever I go into the studio, I'm like, 'Guys, we're probably not going to get an uptempo out of this!'

I've been working on some original songs with the band that does the Led Zeppelin experience. We're going to start writing as an original band and see what comes out of it. It'll be kind of Zeppelin-esque because of the way the guys play - but there's nothing wrong with that.

I thought it would be fun to write a song where a bunch of my favorite guitarists contributed, so I started 'Valley of Fire.'

I did a project called 'Sing The Truth,' which was a lot of fun. It started out being a celebration of the music of Nina Simone, and it was me and Lizz Wright and Angelique Kidjo.

I feel like all my songs slept-on. I'm not complainin', but I just wanna drop more heat.

The fans are always wanting new music, and with as much as I love to write, I might as well give them the music while I've got it.

Musically, I always wanted to experiment.

I'm just really excited to get music out there that's not from the show, because it's cool to be able to break out and have my own stuff under my own name.