I Never Sit Down And Write. I

I'm Playin' Music For A Certain Type Of Person. Fortunately, There Are More And More Of Us. At Least There Are More Comin' To See Me Than There Were 30 Years Ago Or So.

I Remember The First Check I Got From The Who's Recording [of "young Man Blues"]. I'd Been Getting Checks For $10 And $15 And So Forth, And This One Was For A Much Larger Amount Than That. I Thought It Was A Mistake.

I Start Out With Words, With The Idea, The Line. Then After I Get A Line Or Two, I Try To Find What Melodic Line Those Lines Would Be Suited To. As Soon As I Find The Form I Can Finish The Song In My Head.

I'm Playin' The Music I Like.

I Went Through The Whole Number, You Know. The Swing Era, The Boogie Woogie Era, The Bebop Era. Thelonious Monk Is Still One Of My Favorites. So A Lot Of These People Had Their Effect On Me.