Lou Reed

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

If you find a note tonight that sounds good, play the same damn note every night!

I haven’t got a great jazz band and I don’t want one. Some of the critics, Down Beat’s among them, point their fingers at us and charge us with forsaking real jazz . . . It’s all in what you define as ‘real jazz.’ It happens that to our ears harmony comes first. A dozen colored bands have a better beat than mine. Our band stresses harmony.

Records used to be documents, but now record companies want product.

I think I’ve tried to stay true to my music since the beginning. It’s kind of hard because of the access and technology but I just do what I do.

Back in college, when I got kicked out of school, I was still in school, I’d just written the song that got me my record deal. If I hadn’t gotten kicked out of school I wouldn’t be where I am now. Three months after that, I got my record deal and the rest is history.

I’m no good with chords. I’m horrible with chords.

You know at an early age if you have a talent for music.

I’ve noticed that the more adventurous and in that mode that I am, it seems that the more the audience really likes it.

Jazz is an art that makes a person completely naked.

Your humanity is your instrument.

When you begin to teach jazz, the most dangerous thing is that you tend to teach style…I had eleven piano students, and I would say eight of them didn’t even want to know about chords or anything – they didn’t even want to do anything that anybody had ever done, because they didn’t want to be imitators. Well, of course, this is pretty naive…but nevertheless it does bring to light the fact that if you’re going to try to teach jazz…you must abstract the principles of music which have nothing to do with style, and this is exceedingly difficult. So there, the teaching of jazz is a very touchy point. It ends up where the jazz player, ultimately, if he’s going to be a serious jazz player, teaches himself.

Notes are expensive… spend them wisely!

Unless I really loved it and felt really passionate about it, I would just kind of abort the song and start a new one.

My style is to just play. The more “live” you capture your music-the more unthought-out-the more magical it is.