Herbie Hancock

It is people’s hearts that move the age.

The spirit of Jazz is the spirit of openness.

Jazz translates the moment into a sense of inspiration for not only the musicians but for the listeners.

Creativity and artistic endeavors have a mission that goes far beyond just making music for the sake of music.

Being a musician is what I do, but it’s not what I am.

The value of music is not dazzling yourself and others with technique.

The value of music is not dazzling yourself and others with technique.

[Ben Taylor] He is an interesting combination of the two of us. His voice box is more like mine but the way his tongue sits in his mouth, and the way he pronounces words, is just like James Taylor.

I just remember always trying to emulate Dinah Washington, hanging out in my bedroom closet.

I compose my pieces with a formula that I created myself.

Jazz to me is a living music. It’s a music that since its beginning has expressed the feelings, the dreams, hopes, of the people.

To keep a band together you simply need a gimmick. The gimmick I use is to pay them money.

When I cannot sing my heart, I can only speak my mind.

I am a devout musician.

In Jazz, improvisation isn’t a matter of just making any ol’ thing up. Jazz, like any language, has its own grammer and vocabulary. There’s no right or wrong, just some choices that are better than others.

They’re not particular whether you’re playing a flat 5th or a ruptured 129th as long as they can dance.

To compose music, all you need to do is remember a tune that no one else has thought of.

It’s a matter of who would be right for each song. Mickey Hart for ‘All We Need is An Island’ – he’s the only guy I know who has Tahitian drums and every kind of drum on the planet.

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

I used to play – when I first started trying to be professional, I disk jockey from 1949 to 1955 in Memphis, Tennessee, and I was quite popular there as a disk jockey.

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