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.
Jose JamesWhen I sort of step in my jazz world, it's somewhere between instrumental jazz and vocal jazz.
Jose James[Billie Holiday] was keeping it super real, and you can feel that to this day. Everything that she sang, she believed in. So I had to pick songs that I felt the same about.
Jose JamesI really like the complexity of jazz, the emotional depth; I feel like there's no other music that's really as satisfying as jazz.
Jose JamesThere 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.
Jose James