“I love that [ late-50s Verve recordings] - to me, that's the epitome of vocal jazz. It's my favorite style and era of it.” StyleLateJazzMy FavoriteErasVocalEpitome Author:Jose James
“For better or for worse, I think my approach to jazz is very traditional, in one sense, but is [also] very out of fashion today. It's about the musicians, and it's about that magic that happens in the moment.” ThinkingMomentsHappensTodayMagicFashionApproachMusicianJazzTraditionalFashion Today Author:Jose James
“When I sort of step in my jazz world, it's somewhere between instrumental jazz and vocal jazz.” WorldStepsJazzVocal Author:Jose James
“There used to be a club in new york called Bradley's - I've never been there, it closed in the 80's - but I used to study with Junior Mance, and he would tell me about Bradley's. It was a very important place for a generation of jazz musicians in New York. It was really all about pianists there.” ImportantUsedStudyGenerationsNew YorkMusicianJazzClubsUsed To BeJuniorsJazz MusicPianistJazz Musician Author:Jose James
“Chico Hamilton told me, "The first take is important in jazz because that's where the real emotion is." That's your true response to what's happening, and everything else after that, your brain is involved because you have something to reference.” FirstsImportantRealEmotionBrainInvolvedHappeningsJazzResponseHamiltonReal Emotion Author:Jose James
“I've sort of realized there's a definite pattern to my output at this point: there's an album that everybody sort of loves, that's a real balance between the old and new, like The Dreamer or No Beginning No End, like a blend of jazz and hip-hop, or r&b and soul and hip-hop.” RealSoulEndsBalanceJazzPatternsHip HopAlbumsHipsHopsDreamerDefiniteOutputOld And New Author:Jose James
“There's a more experimental album that follows that, which is like Black Magic and While You Were Sleeping. Then there's a return to jazz, For All We Know and Yesterday I Sang The Blues. It wasn't like a planned thing, I just kind of realized it when I made a list of my albums. Like, oh wow, this is exactly what I did before.” KnowsKindMadeBlackSleepMagicReturnJazzAlbumsListsYesterdayWowBlack Magic Author:Jose James
“I really like the complexity of jazz, the emotional depth; I feel like there's no other music that's really as satisfying as jazz.” EmotionalJazzComplexity Author:Jose James
“For me jazz is kind of an extension of hip-hop. Kind of the sad thing is that a lot of jazz people just listen to jazz, and a lot of hip-hop people just listen to hip-hop, and there's not a lot of crossover, unfortunately.” PeopleKindJazzJust Listen Author:Jose James