Lee Konitz

Sound is the first thing that we tune into.

Most jazz players work out their solos, at least to the extent that they have a very specific vocabulary.

I’d like to feel that whatever I play is a result of whatever I’ve heard.

Benny Goodman was one of the big influences as a clarinet player. That’s why I wanted the clarinet.

Every time I see a musician – it doesn’t matter what age – that inspires me, there’s always a secret little wish that maybe we’ll play together, because that’s how I learn and grow and so forth, you know. But hopefully there’s a lot more.

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

I adore extravagance but I abhor waste.

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

I’ve tried all my life to avoid copying. If I can’t be myself, there’s no point being in Jazz.

You can’t rehearse a blues darlin’.

I wanted to connect my guitar to human emotions.

The idea is more important than the style you’re playing in.

Jazz music will continue to thrive, possibly in unexpected ways.

Listening is the key to everything good in music.

Jazz is America’s classical music.

When you want ’em you can’t get ’em, when you’ve got ’em, you don’t want ’em.

Jazz is not something that can be defined through blunt instruments. It is much more poetic than that.

Nothing else will ever capture the democratic process in sound as perfectly as Jazz.

Love is sweeping the country.