Steve Miller Quotes

More than anybody else I'd like to thank Count Basie for teaching me how to perform.

I've got my own studio, and I've got four- to five-hundred unreleased tracks. I've got stuff that's electronic, orchestral, jazz, I've got rock, I've got metal, you know, I don't have polka.

The blues is the foundation, and it's got to carry the top. The other part of the scene, the rock 'n' roll and the jazz, are the walls of the blues.

You know I want to sing for people, I want to jazz people up I want to make new music that they've never heard.

I'm primarily thought of as a rocker, and certainly 'Frankenstein' had a very dramatic power rock image. It was almost a precursor of heavy metal and fusion. But I also love jazz and classical and if there's one common thread that runs through all my music, it is blues.

I've done all different kinds of genres - doo-wop, pop, funk, gospel, country, jazz, you name it.

Jack Johnson, John Mayer, Neil Young and Bob Dylan are my main influences.

My sound is, at its core, a mix of things. Definitely an imperfect mix, but one that incorporates elements of the music I love - a bit of indie rock, super rhythmic rapping, and lots of synths.

I always liked jazz. And my people liked the old blues, race records and the doo-wop and all that.

I would really love to collaborate with Gwen Stefani and M.I.A.; artists that kind of make sense with me vocally. And in terms of style, I'm a very visual artist. I really love Pharell. I love people that really care about drums, and I like beat-heavy.

In terms of exploring an identity in the country music world, what I realized very quickly was that there are people who have been performing country music since they were kids. It's very much a part of who they are; very much that jazz and blues are a part of who I am, because I grew up listening to and playing that kind of music.

If you want me to work with you, then come with an idea. Come with music.

The River,' to me, meant 43 songs.

A great song has to stand on its own, just singing and playing, and the rest is frosting. But you have to pay attention to the frosting.

I like African music but also R&B, rap, alternative rock, and classic.

I take pride in lyrics. I take pride in music and staying on beat and being on key.

Good songs are what a good band is all about. When you have a good song that stands up to the test of the time, that is the most important thing.

Growing up, my parents always played artists like Alanis Morissette, Aerosmith and Michael Jackson, so I just grew to love their music. And I just love so many diverse artists for different reasons; some for their instruments, some for their edge, some for their vocals.

Music is everything.

Truth of the matter is, jazz is American music. And that doesn't mean bebop. Jazz is really about improvising. All the music that's been created in America has been pretty much improvised... Whether it's hillbilly or rock n' roll for blues, it's basically jazz music... It's basically about another way of hearing what comes out of America.

'Love Will Keep Us Together' was a combination of three different singing styles - Al Green, the Beach Boys, and Diana Ross. I loved all these people, and I put their singing styles together and wrote that tune.

You don't have to play the blues to play rock 'n' roll, but that's where, somewhere along the line, your influences came from. I mean, I don't care where you got it from. If you got it from Eric Clapton, he got it from the blues.

It's all about the music. Everything else is just extra.

Just coming from a musical family, I was always surrounded by it. On the car rides to school, my mom loved playing A Tribe Called Quest and the Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band,' and then my dad was listening to a lot of Bill Withers and Stevie Wonder.

My roots are in classical music and jazz, and I want the freedom of being able to improvise. This freedom is possible only in a live concert.