One of the things jazz has always excelled at is translating the reality of the times through its musical prism.
I'm reserved, so I've always needed to find a way of opening up. Jazz helped me do that.
If there was no black man there would be no Rock'n'Roll. The beat, the rhythms of Africa are what created Rock'n'Roll and Jazz.
Rock and roll mainly but I can play passable jazz also.
I think Wes Montgomery is the greatest jazz guitarist that ever lived.
The thing to judge in any jazz artist is, does the man project and does he have ideas.
Diana Krall knocks me out. I like jazz and I like her simple approach.
I don't know who's 18 years old today that, 20 years hence, is going to be a jazz fan.
When I was doing jazz concerts in America, I would use the biggest names I could find.
I used to be a jazz snob, believe it or not. I sort of turned my nose up at anything more commercial.
I'm always looking for ways to develop as an artist, especially as a jazz artist-to find different ways of testing my voice.
That's the kind of musical freedom I like: jazz, rock, blues, anything. You adopt different attitudes when you play different music.
I guess I learnt to appreciate old Hindi-movie music from my dad and somewhere down the line picked up jazz as well.
I looked back on the roaring Twenties, with its jazz, 'Great Gatsby' and the pre-Code films as a party I had somehow managed to miss.
The jazz I love is sweet and pure with raw elements, which is exactly what the good hip-hop is doing now.
Here in England we live at a slower pace, have more time to enjoy things - like good jazz.
The strange thing about Africa is how past, present and future come together in a kind of rough jazz, if you like.
I've been dancing my entire life. Jazz, hip hop, ballet. And then there's tap dancing. I love to tap.
I love Rihanna's new album, Skrillex, and Norah Jones. They're are all very different, but I love any rock, pop, and jazz.
I love many kinds of music: world music, jazz, classical, pop.
For me writing is a question of finding a certain rhythm. I compare it to the rhythms of jazz.
