Historians in the future, in my opinion, will congratulate us on very little other than our clowning and our jazz.
It's not the notes you play, it's the notes you don't play.
I grew up singing Ray Charles and Jimmy Reed.
I listen to music mostly in the evening. I've come to love what is called world music, like the Zimbabwean Oliver Mtukudzi and the Colombian singer Marta Gomez. I also love the Irish folk singer Mary Black. Other favorites include Chet Baker, Eva Cassidy, and Billie Holiday.
I remember hearing Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Big Bill Broonzy, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley and not really knowing anything about the geography or the culture of the music. But for some reason it did something to me - it resonated.
Louis Armstrong playing trumpet on the Judgment Day.
I was listening to a lot of bebop. And to Miles Davis. Everyone thinks I was just in the folk world in 1966, but in 1963 and 1964, I was absorbing enormous amounts of music, from baroque to jazz to blues to Indian music.
Ray Charles has always been a big part of my life.
I grew up listening to a lot of soul music, and a lot of folk music.
My earliest influence was Quincy Jones. I thought 'The Wiz' soundtrack was the most amazing thing I'd ever heard. It was my first record and you had Michael Jackson, Ted Ross, Nipsey Russell and Diana Ross on it. I even took it to show and tell in third grade!
I became a professional musician and played all kinds of music. I played bluegrass, I played classical music, and for many years, I played jazz.
I have to say, I'm sort of always obsessed with Norah Jones. I just love her voice, but I don't really have an album - I have a playlist.
I feel very honored to be playing with Bill Pierce. He's such a great musician.
I got a chance to work with Miles Davis, and that changed everything for me, 'cause Miles really encouraged all his musicians to reach beyond what they know, go into unknown territory and explore. It's made a difference to me and the decisions that I've made over the years about how to approach a project in this music.
I wish Frank Sinatra would just shut up and sing.
My father was always playing the piano. He played all kinds of music - Gershwin, all kinds of stuff.
I find early jazz to be the most revolutionary music of its time.
There's an album by Antonio Carlos Jobim - the album with 'The Girl From Ipanema.' That's the most seductive music ever.
I grew up listening to Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf and lots of blues, R&B and Motown.
I like African music but also R&B, rap, alternative rock, and classic.
As a kid, I loved classical music. Composers like Beethoven were like rock stars to me. Then there were the real rock stars: The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, and Bob Dylan.
Jazz told people about the special music that came out of America and about America in general and this kind of liberty and freedom that we have.
I didn't know there were 2 ten o'clocks in a day.
Prince got some Marvin Gaye and Jimi Hendrix and Sly in him, also, even Little Richard. He's a mixture of all those guys and Duke Ellington.
I was in punk rock bands, heavy metal bands, world music bands, jazz groups, any type of music that would take me. I just love music.
