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. – Ray Manzarek
The difference between blues, jazz, rock n’ roll and rap is that rap stayed poor. Even the white rappers are poor. It’s scarier to look at poor people; it makes everyone uncomfortable. Their pain is something that people would like to see swept under the rug. – Russell Simmons
I’ve always wanted to record a jazz record. I did one in the ’70s with Barbara Carroll. It’s been a journey. – Rita Coolidge
I had 12 years of classical music as a child, playing piano competitions as a teenager, playing in blues bands and rock ‘n’ roll bands, country and jazz bands. I played in about any situation. – Ronnie Milsap
Jazz is like a big secret club. The mainstream media doesn’t pay any attention to it; it’s, like, 1 percent of the music market – no one cares. Why? Because the majority of jazz is old. – Robert Glasper
Jazz is not something that can be defined through blunt instruments. It is much more poetic than that. – Pat Metheny
Certainly, jazz has become more of a niche, which is surprising, because it’s our music. It’s the national music of America. – Renee Fleming
I’m not really married to the craft of jazz – I’m married to me, and my style, and whatever I produce. – Robert Glasper
Tap’s foundation is jazz, just like hip-hop, so relating tap-dancing to rap is natural for me. – Savion Glover
Jazz radio is not very friendly to pop singers who decide to make a jazz record. But a lot of people have been. A lot of the people I’ve talked to like the record. – Rita Coolidge
To me, Bill’s musical heart is in Earthworks, in the jazz they are playing, in the acoustic kit. – Robert Fripp
When I started recording, I thought I’d be able to do all kinds of records: jazz, country, dance – and I’ve always wanted to do a gospel album. – Tom Jones
I don’t want to appear hostile, like I’m hostile to L.A. or that I feel that the people don’t appreciate jazz. I don’t think it’s that. I think it’s something more. It’s something a little bit more complicated than that. – Sonny Rollins
My genre of music is very eclectic. I might play some Latin jazz, or just go into a spontaneous jazz thing. That’s the thing about coming to one of my performances. Not every show is the same. – Sheila E.
In the early days of jazz, it was ensemble music: everybody playing all together. Nobody really stood out. – Terry Teachout
Through improvisation, jazz teaches you about yourself. And through swing, it teaches you that other people are individuals too. It teaches you how to coordinate with them. – Wynton Marsalis
I would love to do a biopic of a famous singer, like Diana Ross or Donna Summer, or an old jazz story that we haven’t seen before. I would love to do that! I would love to play Diana Ross ’cause she’s an icon. I’m salivating to do that. – Taraji P. Henson
Copland was one of the first American composers to forge a truly modern style of American classical music while also making use of American popular music – including jazz. – Terry Teachout
Until I was about 16 years old, my dream was to be a musician. I played in rock bands and jazz bands. Then I decided to be an actor and kept the stable career of ‘jazz pianist’ as my safety net. – Simon Helberg
I was lucky enough to grow up in an era when radio was less formatted. It was really special. You could hear a jazz song then a pop song then a show tune then some jazz. Basically, whatever the DJ felt like playing, he would play. He was educating you and exposing you to things you would never hear otherwise. – Todd Rundgren
The first job I ever had was singing in a jazz club when I was like 15 with my friend, and we earned like 70 bucks. We were like, ‘Oh my God!’ – Zooey Deschanel
I think what we need is a more welcoming mode from the people who put on a hundred million country-western shows on television. How about a monthly jazz show? – Sonny Rollins
Jazz has an audience all around the globe and has had for many decades, I think speaking of the United States, let’s say that what we need is more of an official recognition. – Sonny Rollins
Europeans really provided many venues over there and hailed the jazz artists, and a lot of musicians went over there and stayed over there for a long time. A lot of them moved over there, lived over there, and died over there. – Sonny Rollins