Lee Konitz

Sound is the first thing that we tune into.

As long as there are people trying to play music in a sincere way, there will be Jazz.

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

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

You can’t seperate modern jazz from rock or from rhythm and blues – you can’t seperate it. Because that’s where it all started, and that’s where it all come from – that’s where I learned to keep rhythm – in church.

Man, you tell a story.

Jazz is the type of music that can absorb so many things and still be Jazz.

I love Jazz because it has the perfect balance of discipline and freedom.

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

There’s such a cynicism about the phrase ‘I laughed all the way to the bank.’ It’s as though money is what you’re doing, rather than playing music. If you’re playing a money game, why not get into banking?

Jazz is a complete lifestyle, something that you feel, something that you live.

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

There is no truer truth obtainable by man than comes of music.

I didn’t know the right names for anything at first, but I knew what knocked me out. Changes… man I dug.

Regardless of what you play, the biggest thing is keeping the feel going.

The memory of things gone is important to a jazz musician. Things like old folks singing in the moonlight in the back yard on a hot night or something said long ago.

Jazz music is haunted by its own hungry ghosts.

I liked blues from the time my mother used to take me to church. I started to listen to gospel music, so I liked that. But I had an aunt at that time, my mother’s aunt who bought records by people like Lonnie Johnson, Robert Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and a few others.

At times as a performer they segregated us in some of theatres.