D C DowDell

Hipness is what it is. But sometimes hipness is what it ain’t.

What’s tied Jazz together is its foundation in the Blues, a reliance on group interplay and the unique phenomenon of spontaneous improvisation.

Jazz goes into my coffee in the morning, in my wine at night.

While many forms of music may use the dynamic of improvisation, Jazz exemplifies the unique characteristic of collective improvisation.

The more you listen, the more your hear.

Jazz has evolved with an inner necessity characteristic of any true art form.

I hate to think of Jazz as black and white, something political.

Jazz is the sound of surprise.

Hipness is what it is. But sometimes hipness is what it ain’t.

I’m using the insides of sounds to move around in a very subtle way which, I think, ends up being inevitable. I feel its the only solution to that particular problem that I presented myself.

Music is a gift and a burden I’ve had since I can remember who I was.

If the audience doesn’t hear what is going on, is it going on?

Darlin… be-bop is the music of the future.

Through Dizzy and Bird I began to learn about musical structures and the more theoretical aspects of music.

When I was in the country and I was trying to play, nobody seemed to pay too much attention to me. People used to say, ‘That’s just that ole blues singer.’

Some twenty years ago, during the course of a memorable evening at the Stravinskys’ home in Los Angeles, the venerable maestro turned to me and said in no uncertain terms: ‘My dear, you should conduct your own music. All composers should conduct their own music!

In classical music, only two people are important, the composer and the conductor. Everybody else is a serf. In jazz, a thing of beauty is created collectively with everybody getting to express an idea. And that reflects what democratic society is – or should be.

To play piano is a significant part of my life, my existence. It fulfills a very physical and spiritual need for me.

Don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there.

People love us when we play what we want to play but we’re starving.

Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself.