For years, I never did anything without my rig. I would never sit in unless I could have my amps and stuff there.
From 1962 to 1965, the guitar became this icon of youth culture, thanks mostly to the Beatles.
I don't know if I would qualify as mainstream. I think I have managed to function pretty successfully on the fringes of the music world and have been able to play exactly what I have wanted the way I have wanted.
I don't worry too much about the fundamentalist principles that are in almost any discussion about jazz.
I hate the way chorus boxes sound.
I realized that equipment really had little to do with why I sound like the way I sound.
I saw A Hard Day's Night 12 or 13 times.
I think I have a basic sound aesthetic that is in most of what I do.
I think I represent a more left-wing view of what jazz is.
I was able to work with the best musicians in Kansas City starting when I was really young.
I was deep in the zone of practicing almost constantly.
I was far from a great teacher, and to my credit, I realized this pretty quickly.
I was totally involved in trying to figure out a way of doing things with my instrument that would fit the ideas that I had in my head.
It's more about conception and touch and spirit and soul than whether my hardware was in place.
Jazz is not something that can be defined through blunt instruments. It is much more poetic than that.
Listening is the key to everything good in music.
My older brother Mike is an excellent trumpet player. By the time he was 12, he was playing around Kansas City in classical situations. He was already an amazing talent.
People sometimes say it takes a long time to become a jazz fan, but for me it took about five seconds.
Playing live is by far my favorite.
The beauty of jazz is that it's malleable. People are addressing it to suit their own personalities.
The chorused thing, I would have to say I was the first to use extensively in jazz, and that seemed to have influenced a lot of other guys.
The first few years I was in Boston was probably the time that whatever style I have developed as a player crystallized.
The first thing I learned was the theme from Peter Gunn.
The goal would be to always honor the music. That is the most important thing. I try to represent the high standards that have been set.
There's more bad music in jazz than any other form. Maybe that's because the audience doesn't really know what's happening.
To me, rhythm and what you do with it is everything. Right after rhythm is melody.
Whatever my recorded output is, it's a reflection of a general love of music.
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