Steve Lacy

There’s a lot of recreational Jazz going on, where cats learn a particular style and become sharks on somebody else’s language.

In composition you have all the time you want to decide what to say in 15 seconds, in improvisation you have 15 seconds.

I started in New Orleans music and played all through the history of Jazz.

You have to sound sad first, then maybe later you can sound good.

Jazz is like wine. When it is new it’s only for the experts, but when it gets older everybody wants it.

People don’t want to suffer. They want to sound good immediately and this is one of the biggest problems.

The Blues contain so much joy and sadness at the same time.

[on Prince] I learned about music that didn’t have any barriers or any kind of, like, containment. I learned about wild, crazy topics and ways to express yourself that had never been written in quite that way before. I learned that a human being could be able to defy all stereotypes, and be the epitome of badassness.

If there is no dance, there is not music.

By giving the public a rich and full melody, distinctly arranged and well played, all the time creating new tone colors and patterns, I feel we have a better chance of being successful. I want a kick to my band, but I don’t want the rhythm to hog the spotlight.

After you’ve done all the work and prepared as much as you can, what the hell, you might as well go out and have a good time.

I don’t like to look back because the whole point in Jazz is doing it now.

I have no one style.

If a literary man puts together two words about music, one of them will be wrong.

What are you going to do when you love music? You can’t stop.

Music should enrich the soul; it should teach spirituality by showing a person a portion of himself that he would not discover otherwise. It’s easy to rediscover part of yourself, but through art you can be shown part of yourself you never knew existed. That’s the real mission of art. The artist has to find something within himself that’s universal and which he can put into terms that are communicable to other people. The magic of it is that art can communicate to a person without his realizing it.

Your horn is your passport to the world.

Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.

A great song can pull me out of a slump and lighten my heart.

I regard singing pretty much like acting. Each song is like playing a different role. I get very involved with my material. I feel a responsibility for the emotion it brings out in the listener.

I never practice my guitar. From time to time I just open the case and throw in a piece of raw meat.