Quotes About Music

It's every songwriter's dream to come up with a standard.

That was something we were trying to figure out: Are we allowed to do a jazz song? Are we allowed to do cabaret? Just from hearing the Beatles, it was like, 'Well, they did it. It's okay to write something other than a standard rock song.'

I think that every songwriter would give their right arm to come up with a standard that is going to be played long after they're dead.

If anything, even though I can play in the sort of standard string-bending style, in the B.B. King mold and all of that, I've always had a great interest in the more primitive playing, the open chord playing, rhythm and figures.

It's a lot more interesting to dig into the popular music from where I'm from than adhere to some kind of standardized global pop.

I'm still more comfortable with standards than with my own songs.

I mean regardless of what kind of success we have, this is one of the most gratifying things in the world - to work with your friends, and make good music, by our standards.

What we hear now is great-sounding records with great-sounding grooves and loops. And the sound of these records is irresistible, but the craft of songwriting is just about over. That's why, whenever I get an opportunity to do an album full of standards, I jump at it because I miss it.

My great hero is Billie Holiday, and I've always wanted to do an album of standards with a piano-led quartet.

There was a period in my life when I was trying to write standards: songs that everybody recorded. I did a pretty good run of it.

I was always trying to write standards, songs that anybody can sing. I figured that's where the money was.

I think the people at my record label know I'm a Christian and again, I've been really blessed that I've never had to get into a head-butt war over moral standards or anything like that.

My dad was a composer and a musician, but he never finished high school. His formal education was rather minimal from the standards of today's college graduates and Ph.D.'s, but he had a deep interest in questions of science and questions of the universe.

It's been a long time since we've been out there playing new material, and we have really enjoyed that. Of course we still enjoy playing the Yes standards as well, but it's great to have a bit of a challenge and pull off new material.

I always want to have the traditional country soul while meeting the new standards of country music.

There is a lot of pressure on pop stars, and I think a lot of it is the pressure that we put on ourselves. In our minds, we build up these huge, huge standards that we think people want from us, and actually, when you break it down, people just want you to make music and perform to the best of your ability, but anxiety can stop you from doing that.

When I'm dealing with Britney Spears and Katy Perry, these massive brands, like, really, very Coca-Cola, you know what I mean? There are certain kinds of standards. There are risks you can take, and there's risks that you don't. And I think I'm interested in taking a little more risk in my own music.

I would love to do an album of standards!

People think jazz music is all standards and the Great American Songbook. But it's really about the sensibility, the feel you bring to the music.

You're supposed to create new standards. The more you play songs by your peers, they become standards, you know? Miles Davis played 'Gingerbread Boy' 'cos he and Jimmy Heath were cool, you know? That's how the culture goes.

My songs lie somewhere in between the evergreen standards, rock n' roll and pop.

Jazz musicians have always taken the standards of their time and performed them with a jazz sensibility.

I listen to music all the time, and a lot of the things I cover are the standards of my time, and they work for me.

Most of my career has been about standing on a stage performing music to an audience, and once the show is over, they go home and I go on to the next show.