[on putting together "The Big Phat Band" in 1999] I realized that I may have more road behind me than I have ahead of me, and maybe I should have the courage to start writing music for me. I was mindful of the hostile cultural climate for this type of music, the economic challenges and logistic challenges - the stuff that started to kill the big band environment the first time round. Could I convince people that this music wasn't just about nostalgia, or that it wasn't elitist? That you could make jazz accessible and even entertaining? I was fighting the concept, even in the jazz community, that to market your music meant that you didn't have artistic integrity.
