When I was doing jazz concerts in America, I would use the biggest names I could find.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Of course my uncle was a giant, but my dad, in particular, had the house filled with these great Dixieland jazz stars, really the best of them: Henry Red Allen, Willie 'The Lion' Smith, Buster Bailey, Cutty Cutshall, Tyree Glenn, Zutty Singleton. These are all big names in the Dixieland world.
The history of all big jazz bands shows was, first they played for dancing, and then they played for singing.
As a kid, I used to go see all the jazz players, Oscar Peterson, Stan Kenton, Dave Brubeck, Dizzy Gillespe.
When it's all said and done, jazz with a capital J is where I'm coming from. Dexter Gordon, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk - that's what I really studied when I was a teenager and what really fueled my passion.
I have tons of jazz records: John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis. I could go on and on.
My dad is a big jazz fan, and that was the reason I first got into jazz.
Jazz came to America three hundred years ago in chains.
I have a fondness for jazz, particularly for jazz singers, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald all the way through the Sinatra era.
The French - they like jazz, they've been on jazz a long time.
Jazz changes and all. But I don't know the names of what it is I'm doing.