My music is part of the quest I have to find new ways of telling stories, and also, I want to inspire people.
The music industry has been hijacked by corporate interests, but the way music affects people and resonates with them hasn't changed.
I believe that music is a force in itself. It is there and it needs an outlet, a medium. In a way, we are just the medium.
I rarely listen to music while writing. I wish I could, but it distracts me.
I try to put myself into unusual and difficult situations as often as I can in order to capture the element of struggle in the music.
Let's say I was a plumber, or I worked at a factory, I would download music, you feel what I'm saying?
That I can't relate to today's music or morals doesn't make either necessarily bad. Just different. I leave the judgements to others.
Then came the choreography... the impact of music and choreography tends to really emphasize an overall feeling of what you really want out of the program.
I wish I finished music school, because then I feel like I could talk more about the dissonant notes.
Going to college was never an option. I was passionate about music, but how much talent I actually had was another matter.
I'm very, very open to experimenting with different people and trying to find different methods of writing and making music.
Certainly, jazz has become more of a niche, which is surprising, because it's our music. It's the national music of America.
Every song has a bouquet, which is the music. If you can put words with something that is really apt, then you've done it.
I loved music - listening and playing - but of course I could not imagine I would be a professional musician. It really happened step by step.
Music is a gut thing. You're working in a medium which is more in touch with the primal than the modern. A gig is a ritual. There's a congregation.
I like trying to make sounds that are interesting and are a bit weird. I try to make music that captures people's imaginations.
I can look back over my earlier music, and it takes me back to the place I was emotionally.
Music tells you about the artist and what they were thinking about at the time, because the person has to think about it to sing it.
Concert repertoire is some of the most beautiful music ever written, and I frequently seek out opportunities to perform it.
Marilyn Monroe never sold a platinum album. And more people know my music than what I look like.
I've only ever had one doubt about music. It came when I was 11. I hated playing scales.
