1/ Does your interest for European Classical Music influence your style of improvisation? 2/

2/Your discography shows that you recorded mainly with North American musicians although most of your public is European. Any comments?

3/ Was McCoy Tyner work in John Coltrane’s «A Love Supreme» your first jazz inspiration?

4/ Why don’t you main repertoire includes American Song Book standards? 5/ Do you avoid swing or can’t you get it? 

Dear José How are you? I`m on tour and am at an internet cafe Remember I told you I don`t do interviews by e-mail? I`m home after the 20th if you want to do this by phone I can just quickly tell you that yes, of course European classical music is a big influence in my music, McCoy Tyner, Cecil, Abdullah Ibrahim and Horace Silver were all early piano inspirations although the main emotional inspiration was Coltrane. You should check my discography and you will see that I`ve done many many recordings with European musicians from many different countries- I don`t play many standards because it just doesn`t interest me to concentrate on that- I have played quite a few ballads anyway- Bill Evans, Ellington, Monk, Coltrane... Robert Palmer, when he was alive and writing for the NY Times, wrote a great article on redefining the definition of swing- I`m not a traditional jazz player, nor do I want to be - I think my music does swing, albeit it`s not in a traditional way - Could I swing in a traditional way? I think I do on the occasions when I`ve played more traditional jazz, for instance in the concerts and on recordings with Reggie Workman I hope this answers your questions somewhat - If you want more elaborate answers we`ll have to do it by phone Till next time, have a good year and greetings to my friends there, all the best, Marilyn