Not to dismiss Gershwin, but Gershwin is the chip; Ellington was the block.

I had made all these rules for myself: I'm not writing social commentary, I'm not writing love songs.

I'm a fine artist working in a commercial arena, so that's my cross to bear

Once I got the open tunings for some reason, I began to get the harmonic sophistication that I heard that my musical fountain inside was excited by. Once I got some interesting chords to play with, my writing began to come.

Everybody's saying hell's the hippest way to go. Well, I don't think so, but I'm gonna take a look around it though.

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.

When I began experimenting, people weren't ready for it. Once it's in its second and third generational stages, people can accept it.