When it’s all said and done, jazz with a capital J is where I’m coming from. Dexter Gordon, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk – that’s what I really studied when I was a teenager and what really fueled my passion.
‘The Simpsons’ is like Charlie Parker or Marlon Brando or Richard Pryor: Comedy couldn’t go back to the way it was after ‘The Simpsons’ came out.
I also wanted Parker to operate in the Internet age without losing being Parker. He’s always operated in the world without really being with the world, and cyberspace means that the rest of us are more and more living the same way.
On ‘The Guiding Light’ I enjoyed working with Jamie Goodwin and Ellen Parker, who played my sister. I loved working with Jerry Ver Dorn and Jay Hammer. I mean, there’s some great fun people that I’ve really enjoyed.
I met the Colonel when Elvis was recording some song I’d written for one of his movies. Elvis was just having fun with the gang and all the Memphis boys and Colonel Parker was sitting over here in like a theater seat.
I listen to anything anyone gives me. I always go back to a few basic favorites. I can always listen to Django Reinhardt and hear something I haven’t heard before. I like to listen to Art Tatum and Coltrane and Charlie Parker. Those are guys who never seem to run out of ideas.
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