Coltrane came to New Orleans one day and he was talking about the jazz scene. And Coltrane mentions that the problem with jazz was that there were too few groups.

I'm not going to play funk licks on a jazz album. That makes no sense.

My job is to write songs that have emotional meaning to me.

Walter Beasley is an anomaly: a successful performing musician who possesses the rare skill of understanding the musical process beyond the intuitive. This special ability enables Walter to communicate with aspiring musicians in a way that removes the sense of mystery that sometimes enshrouds our profession.

It's hard to get into Newsweek because, as more of our former intellectual magazines take on a pop focus, if there's no buzz, there's no interest.

You hear it in your brain. Whatever makes sense. Some songs work well as quartet songs, sometimes they don't.

I like to make records sound good. I'm more like a reducer than a producer. If an artist cannot produce themselves, what's the point?