Jay McShann Quotes

The singer-songwriter has always played music that was stylistically rooted in the '30s and the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. But the fact of the matter is that none of us remember the Depression firsthand.

It's just always been a hobby of ours to make music that makes us happy and excites us when we make it.

I don't feel a day older when it comes to my approach to music or what gets me off than when I was a teenager. I've always been into different kinds of stuff and when I play I like to play loud. I like my arm hairs to move and I like my body to vibrate 'cause I like the feel of it; I'm still a teenager at heart.

Man I mean, the great thing about playing clubs in Harlem is people have an appreciation not just for the music but for the history of the music.

A real active music set, based and really concentrated on what the music's all about. That's what I'm all about - singing and a really good strong music set.

When the great jazz and blues clubs closed - joints where the cash register rang loudly and there wasn't ESPN on TV over the bandstand, and people smoked cigarettes and drank whiskey and hollered 'Play on!' - When those places closed, I was pretty much done.

Drum on your drums, batter on your banjos, sob on the long cool winding saxophones. Go to it, O jazzmen.

For me, the main goal is loving music and experiencing the great music-making with the orchestra, which is the great reason why I conduct, and that is the main goal.

I've always enjoyed playing. If all it meant were to just stand there and play my axe and sing, I could have gone on forever.

We play the instruments we love.

Whether it's performing a concert with my quartet or sitting in with my peers, enjoying musical conversations at home with my brothers or hanging and playing choro with my friends - sharing moments in that bright space of music are the happiest times.

The best part of touring has to be playing shows.

My earliest memory of music has to be watching my mother play the santoor.

When you are travelling, there's romance, and there's music.

Full live performances are always my favorites, and I think a lot of people's favorites too, just because you can feel the energy off the crowd and there's so much more interaction, and just everything overall is just like very hype.

I like Telecasters because they are so versatile.

It's such a wonderful thing for me to be able to be in there and make music with people that I love, first of all. It's something that I'm so passionate about.

I remember being out in the street, singing 'Forever And Ever' at the top of my voice at five years old.

I have so many happy memories of Belfast and the shows I played there.

I say that I do soul, R&B music. I have so many influences, from Billie Holiday, Nina Simone to Stevie Wonder and Prince and even Al Green and Bjork. And a lot of hip hop music has influenced me a lot - you know - De La Soul and Digital Underground and A Tribe Called Quest.

I'm so lucky to not have to busk anymore, but I realized as soon as I didn't need to do it that I really missed it.

When you're on stage and you got a great audience, that makes the show that much better for the band.

Looking back fondly, I think the first gig we did with the electronic stuff was really exciting because it was in this tiny club, like an Elizabethan building with beams.

It's been really cool to go to places I've never been to around the country and performing for people and bringing a fun show to entertain folks.

Boston is awesome, man. It's a rush to go out there and perform.