Don't Settle For Style. Succeed

Jazz Music Is The Power Of Now.

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.

I Grew Up In The South, In New Orleans, Where Guys Torture You All The Time. So I Didn't Really Grow Up On The Self-esteem Campaign. When You Were Lousy At Something, They Told You You Were Lousy, And They Told You How To Fix It.

Because The Blues Is The Basis Of Most American Music In The 20th Century. It's A 12-bar Form That's Played By Jazz, Bluegrass And Country Musicians. It Has A Rhythmic Vocabulary That's Been Used By Rock N' Roll. It's Related To Spirituals, And Even The American Fiddle Tradition.

Swing Is Extreme Coordination. It's A Maintaining Balance, Equilibrium. It's About Executing Very Difficult Rhythms With A Panache And A Feeling In The Context Of Very Strict Time. So, Everything About The Swing Is About Some Guideline And Some Grid And The Elegant Way That You Negotiate Your Way Through That Grid.