Bill Frisell

There’s so much music out there and so many possibilities. I like anyone who plays any instrument.

In this trumpet I hear our icons and the sound of the future.

Talking about music is like dancing about architecture.

Jazz speaks for life. This is triumphant music.

Jazz is America’s classical music.

So much of Jazz doesn’t have an audience other than music students or musicians.

Sometimes there are no gigs, but the main thing is still the music.

When there was vinyl, I just loved opening a record and smelling that wonderful smell.

Bird said he worked as dishwasher at Onyx Club on 52nd St. in the early 1940s just to hear Art Tatum play.

I try stuff. I synthesize what’s of value with some of the other things I have at my disposal.

I don’t like recording studios – except my own, which is just a little room above the garage.

Silence is what makes music sexy. I just move blocks of silence around. The notes are an afterthought.

I asked my mother could I have an instrument. She said, ‘Well if you go out and save your money.’ So I went and got – I made me a shine box. I went out and started shining shoes, and I’d bring whatever I made.

Musically, I love to talk just off the top of my head and that’s what Jazz is all about.

I cannot play a lie. I have to believe in what I play or it won’t come out.

The main thing is to be satisfied with your work yourself. It’s useless to have an audience happy if you are not happy.