Milt Jackson on playing with big bands.

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Milt Jackson discusses musical integrity versus commercial success.

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Milt Jackson discusses his ability as a songwriter.

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Q: “You don’t have to be a genius to listen to it and understand it and enjoy it. It’s not that at all, but it is a more intelligent music, so therefore it has to be approached with some intelligence and some commitment – at least half as much commitment as the musicians themselves put into it – because I know that if you had the equivalent success in the popular music field that you have in a very difficult music field, jazz; you would be a multi-millionaire.”

A: “Right. However, now that you've mentioned that, though, say if you were a producer though, and you only going to get ten per cent of me … Because of my music being that intellectual, it means that we would be considered, that most of them had a fair amount of intelligence or common sense, what have you. That you are not going to be as bothered with me or put in as much time with me for the ten per cent as forty per cent of bagging against with another group, say a rock group. In other words, if you got ten per cent of me you know, and you got forty per cent of this group, the other group, you’re going to concentrate on getting that forty per cent with the other group. And this is something jazz has suffered from all these years also. And with the general public, unless you are a real fan and followed this in all of these aspects, you don’t know this.”