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 James Copy Share Image
For me, the difference between a musician reading an arrangement on a piece of paper, and them closing their eyes and listening to what's happening around them and responding to it, is huge. — Jose James Copy Share Image
I don't get writer's block. I don't try to write anything; when something comes, I write it. I just practice and when I get… — Jose James Copy Share Image
The other songs [of Billie Holiday] - "Body and Soul" is like the standard - I also wanted some songs that I knew I… — Jose James Copy Share Image
[Billie Holiday] was keeping it super real, and you can feel that to this day. Everything that she sang, she believed in. So I… — Jose James Copy Share Image
I feel like, in many ways, Billie Holiday's still very under-appreciated as an artist. People focus on her voice, and all of the very… — Jose James Copy Share Image
If you look at the other singers of Billie Holiday's time, they were really trying to entertain. They were trying to make people feel… — Jose James Copy Share Image
I also tried to focus on songs that Billie Holiday wrote, songs that she had a hand in shaping, like "Strange Fruit"; songs that… — Jose James Copy Share Image
I'm listening to a lot of Drake, and a lot of Frank Sinatra just because it's his centennial also. I'm going to be doing… — Jose James Copy Share Image
All my stuff is pretty seamless - like now, while I'm touring [Yesterday I Sang The Blues], today I'm going to go in the… — Jose James Copy Share Image
When I sort of step in my jazz world, it's somewhere between instrumental jazz and vocal jazz. — Jose James Copy Share Image
Jason [Moran] and John [Patitucci] and Eric [Harland] knew it was a Billie Holiday tribute. I'm sure they assumed it was going to be… — Jose James Copy Share Image
There used to be a club in new york called Bradley's - I've never been there, it closed in the 80's - but I… — Jose James Copy Share Image
I've sort of realized there's a definite pattern to my output at this point: there's an album that everybody sort of loves, that's a… — Jose James Copy Share Image
![“The other songs [of Billie Holiday] - "Body and Soul" is like the standard - I also wanted some songs that I knew I would sound good on, as a producer. It's been the same nine songs since I debuted it back in 2012.” quote by Jose James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/134/jose-james-22349_body_the-other-songs-of-billie-holiday-body-a_260885.jpg)
![“[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.” quote by Jose James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/3ba/jose-james-22349_feels_billie-holiday-was-keeping-it-super-real_313883.jpg)
![“All my stuff is pretty seamless - like now, while I'm touring [Yesterday I Sang The Blues], today I'm going to go in the studio, I'm writing my next one. For me it's continual.” quote by Jose James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/e35/jose-james-22349_next_all-my-stuff-is-pretty-seamless-like-now_1077289.jpg)
![“Jason [Moran] and John [Patitucci] and Eric [Harland] knew it was a Billie Holiday tribute. I'm sure they assumed it was going to be like another singer date, where we just have a bunch of charts and they write them down and they got paid and kind of moved on. There's nothing wrong with that, but…” quote by Jose James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/caf/jose-james-22349_bunch_jason-moran-and-john-patitucci-and-eric_1495513.jpg)
