Even though I left for a year, I grew here as a Jazz man. If I'm fortunate enough to go into the Hall of Fame, I will go as a Jazz man.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I was brought up in a house with a lot of appreciation for music, all kinds of music, including jazz. But I never knew that it could really be a career. I didn't know any jazz singers. I never saw live jazz. I only heard these records.
Man, I just feel so fortunate to be a jazz musician at all. I have a hard time thinking of it any other way. It's such a fulfilling vocation. I love it.
I've been around jazz and jazz musicians most of my life.
My dad is a big jazz fan, and that was the reason I first got into jazz.
Well, actually, I don't consider myself a jazz legend or anything.
We don't live in a jazz world, unfortunately. I think if I had lived in a jazz world, I would have done OK. I'm not sure I would have done great. I'm a lover of jazz music, so I would have been happy, don't get me wrong. I go to jazz concerts like the biggest jazz fan in world. The drag is that I don't play jazz for a living.
So I went into jazz and performed in jazz clubs all over the country.
I have a fondness for jazz, particularly for jazz singers, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald all the way through the Sinatra era.
I am not a jazz singer. I wouldn't place myself on that footing. I wouldn't even enter that arena.
I wouldn't really say I'm a jazz guy, which I'm not.