Gerry Mulligan

You can make a saxophone into an electric organ; you can do everything with it.

When I began listening to saxophones, I was first attracted to Coleman Hawkins.

What I came back to is that jazz is a music to be played and not to be intellectualized on.

I’ve always wanted a C trumpet on top, to have that same kind of facility without shouting.

Jazz is a music to be played and not to be intellectualized on.

I like what I hear other guys doing, but the thing that really attracts me is melodic playing.

I’m fascinated with the electronic devices that we can mess around with.

I don’t believe music can be free unless it has something to be free from.

A series of vibrations. What does it matter, the source of the catalyst?

I am an improviser, I improvise music. Whatever you want to call it, it’s all improvised music. I may capture it and go back and write it down for others, but it was originally improvised.

The trio is the biggest sound you can have with the smallest unit.

He knows I rip him off every day. He’s the godfather for me. Nobody can say they aren’t influenced by what Stevie Wonder has done.

When I got started in New York, if you were different from Miles and Dizzy it was very difficult.

You don’t chose your inspirations, they chose you.

The secret is keeping busy, and loving what you do.

A lot of singers think all they have to do is exercise their tonsils to get ahead. They refuse to look for new ideas and new outlets, so they fall by the wayside… I’m going to try to find out the new ideas before the others do.

My fans are the best in the world! They’ve grown up with me and stayed with me through this entire journey.

You must surrender whatever preconceptions you have about music if you’re really interested in it.

I don’t care much about music. What I like is sounds.

I hope my recordings of my own works won’t inhibit other people’s performances. The brutal fact is that one doesn’t always get the exact tempo one wants, although one improves with experience.

A guy is influenced by hundreds of people and things, and all show up in his work. To fasten on any one or two is ridiculous. I will say one thing, though. Lennie Tristano’s early records impressed me tremendously. Tunes like ‘Tautology,’ ‘Marshmallow,’ and ‘Fishin’ Around.’ I heard the fellows in his group building their lines with a design and general structure that was different from anything I’d ever heard in jazz.