Quotes by Jose James

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.

Holiday

Real

Song

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.

Stuff

Writing

Yesterday

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.

Brain

Important

Real

For better or for worse, I think my approach to jazz is very traditional, in one sense, but is [also] very out of fashion today. It’s about the musicians, and it’s about that magic that happens in the moment.

Fashion

Magic

Thinking

For me jazz is kind of an extension of hip-hop. Kind of the sad thing is that a lot of jazz people just listen to jazz, and a lot of hip-hop people just listen to hip-hop, and there’s not a lot of crossover, unfortunately.

Jazz

Kind

People

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.

Differences

Eye

Reading

I actually started the whole project some years ago with a live debut at Ancienne Belgique in Brussels. The focus was mainly on my favorite period of Billie Holiday, which was the late-50s Verve recordings, with essentially a small version of the Count Basie band.

Focus

Holiday

Years

I also tried to focus on songs that Billie Holiday wrote, songs that she had a hand in shaping, like “Strange Fruit”; songs that were written for her or songs that she wrote herself, like “Fine and Mellow” or “God Bless The Child.”

Children

Holiday

Song

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 an idea I write it down.

Block

Trying

Writing

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 recognizable vocal things that she does, which are great. But I wanted to, with this project, start the conversation again about her as a radical feminist, as a civil rights activist – taking a stance. And also just [her] being a non-conformist.

Artist

Holiday

Rights

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Albums

Artist

Band

Beautiful

Black

Block

Brain

Careers

Children

Class

Complexity

Dancer

Differences

Emotional

Eras

Eye

Fashion

Feel Good

Focus

Giving

Guy

Hip Hop

Holiday

Important

Insane

Jazz

Kind

Listening

Magic

Moved On

Musician

New York

Night

People

Planning

Play

Reading

Real

Rights

School

Sleep

Song

Soul

Steps

Strong

Stuff

Style

Thinking

Trying

Two

The Future Blueprint

Tool

The Home Therapist: Anti Anxiety

Tool

The Autobiography

Tool

The Behaviour Diary

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The Dating Diary

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The Relationship Therapist

Tool

Quotes by Jose James

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.

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.

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.

For better or for worse, I think my approach to jazz is very traditional, in one sense, but is [also] very out of fashion today. It’s about the musicians, and it’s about that magic that happens in the moment.

For me jazz is kind of an extension of hip-hop. Kind of the sad thing is that a lot of jazz people just listen to jazz, and a lot of hip-hop people just listen to hip-hop, and there’s not a lot of crossover, unfortunately.

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.

I actually started the whole project some years ago with a live debut at Ancienne Belgique in Brussels. The focus was mainly on my favorite period of Billie Holiday, which was the late-50s Verve recordings, with essentially a small version of the Count Basie band.

I also tried to focus on songs that Billie Holiday wrote, songs that she had a hand in shaping, like “Strange Fruit”; songs that were written for her or songs that she wrote herself, like “Fine and Mellow” or “God Bless The Child.”

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 an idea I write it down.

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The Future Blueprint

The Home Therapist: Anti Anxiety

The Autobiography

The Behaviour Diary

The Dating Diary

The Relationship Therapist

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