Herbie Hancock

The value of music is to be able to play one note at the right time in the right way.

But I have to be careful not to let the world dazzle me so much that I forget that I’m a husband and a father.

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

I think there’s a great beauty to having problems. That’s one of the ways we learn.

Miles’ sessions were not typical of anybody else’s sessions. They were totally unique.

Music happens to be an art form that transcends language.

We quest for the perfect performance and every note has to be right. Man, every note is not right in life.

I often wonder whether Negroes like myself who are pretty well known help out at all in breaking down barriers.

I think you have to leave a lot to the imagination!

Let me whisper it. Let me sigh it. Let me sing it, my dear or I will cry it.

It is this tendency to play with manic enthusiasm on every possible occasion that distinguishes the amateur Jazz musician from the professional.

If you really understand the meaning of be-bop, you understand the meaning of freedom.

There are four qualities essential to a great Jazzman: taste, courage, individuality and irreverence. These are the qualities I want to retain in my music.

The essentials of Jazz are: melodic improvisation, melodic invention, swing and instrumental personality.

Jazz music is our original American culture.

Every symphony, for example, is a sonata for orchestra; every string quartet is a sonata for four strings; every concerto a sonata for a solo instrument and orchestra.

Even now, at 82 years old, if I don’t learn something every day, you know what I think? It’s a day lost. Now, I don’t practice every day. I just take the guitar, swear at it. But I should be swearing at myself. But I fool with music. I’m doing something musically all the time. And my ears are wide open for anything I can hear.

I still love the whole history of Jazz. The old things sound better than ever.

Practicing is like getting your vocabulary together to use on the gig.

They teach you there’s a boundary line to music. But, man, there’s no boundary line to art.

Play what you want and let the public pick up on what you doing even if it does take them 15, 20 years.