I Never Sit Down And Write. I

My Main Influences Have Always Been The Classic Jazz Players Who Sang, Like Louis Armstrong And Nat King Cole And Jack Teagarden.

I Don't Remember Any Impression [from Blues].the Blues Was Just Everywhere In The Mississippi Delta. It Was Mostly Black Sharecroppers Living There, And There Was A Lot Of Blues Around. Sometimes The Guys Would Sing The Blues In The Fields, Working.

I Never Thought I Was Playing Black Music. I Was Just Playing Music, The Stuff I Liked. I Sang Blues At Parties And Things When I Was A Kid.

And Lennie Tristano I Like A Lot, I Still Like Him.

I've Been Able To Do Pretty Well. I Don't Work As Many Consecutive Nights As I Used To, But I'm Still Working Over 100 Nights A Year, So That's Good For Me.