Alfred Lion

Jazz isn’t the kind of music you’re going to learn in 3 or 4 years or get because you have talent for music.

If I have to go around telling everyone how great I am, then there’s something wrong with my act.

I don’t get jazz. It always sounds like a bunch of toddlers let loose in a music room.

One very important thing I learned from Monk was his complete dedication to music.

One of the reasons we’re here is to be a part of this process of exchange.

We recorded to document ourselves, not to sell a lot of records.

If you don’t make mistakes, you aren’t really trying.

I could see the blues was about survival.

You can practice to learn technique, but I’m more interested in conceiving something in the moment.

I only knew classical music, which to me was the only true music. The only way I could survive at the bar was to mix the classical music with popular songs, and that meant I had to sing. What happened was that I discovered I had a voice plus the talent to mix classical music together with more popular songs, which at the time I detested.

Will the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? All the rest of you, if you

Somebody asked me once, ‘Do you think that swing will ever come back?’ And I said, ‘Do you think the 1938 Form will ever come back?’

A great teacher stimulates his student’s creativity enough so that they go out and find the answers themselves.

I started as a writer and when I sent my demos out everyone wanted to know who was singing and if that person wanted a record deal.

When I decided that I wanted to be a Jazz musician, I knew that it was about improvising.