Rule #2: In general, the higher notes of the basic chord structure (th — Clare Fischer

"I really dont know what to say about this without sounding hypercritical. First of all, the style of playing is so tremendously behind the beat, it gets to the point that I feel hes in opposition to his rhythm section, and I cant get a nice swing out of the thing. The pianist is tremendously heavy-handed, which I think gets in the way of what hes trying to do, so I feel that in some spots hes stumbling, instead of having the feeling that the man is executing what he wants to play. The whole thing strikes me as a sort of comme-ci-comme-ca performance of a like tune. Two stars."

"I firmly believe that the more one is exposed to bossa nova, the less one is interested in how he can fit it to his jazz concept and the more he becomes interested in what his improvisation can do for bossa nova."

"Johnny has never written a tune – at least none Ive ever heard – that wasnt melodically and harmonically perfect."

"My God, I heard this guys albums for ages and finally to be able to look at him and see how he does it!"

"I had a chance to play that instrument for six days. Hearing German spoken around me made me think of my father, who died in 1960, and whom I hadnt thought much about in recent years. And I remembered what he meant to me. I played "Du, du liegst mir im Herzen" because my father used to sing it to me. So I sat there, thinking of my father, and weeping."

"Im working with Natalie Cole this afternoon. Weve been working on vocals lately, and we had an incredible string date yesterday down at Ocean Way. Clare Fischer did the string arrangements for a couple of tunes, and I arranged some others. Clare is a genius. The way he hears internal string parts is just incredible."