If you`re going to use standards as criteria for signing musicians, you can sign thousands. If you`re going to use some sort of conceptual interpretation that`s based on the tradition of those standards, but is trying to move away from it, you`re down to ...
If you listen to a lot of the songs that are popular now, there`s very little melody in there. People love the beat. But to musicians, it`s melody, because we understand how elusive it is and how hard it is to hold.