That's what it is-it's jazz. It's just jazz. That's what the whole thing is about to me. It's about what's happening right now in this context. This conversation is jazz to a certain extent. It's improvisation. What appeals to me about music is the improvization. That's what I don't like about the media-they're not living it.

You have to understand a bit about the poetry of the blues to know where the references are coming from.

I learnt from Armstrong on the early recordings that you never sang a song the same way twice.

Like I said, basically I'm a rocker. That's about it. Things that I've done away from that-branches that I've gotten into off of that - are just other streams, other things that I can do.

You gotta fight every day to keep mediocrity at bay.

In order to win you must be prepared to lose sometime. And leave one or two cards showing.

Sometimes you do know where the ideas are coming from and sometimes you don't. You might get a song coming through that you just don't know about.