Charlie Parker

I kept thinking there’s bound to be something else? I could hear it sometimes, but I couldn’t play it.

Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn. They teach you there’s a boundary line to music. But, man, there’s no boundary line to art.

You’ve got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail.

Music is your experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn.

It’s not all smoke and mirrors. Some of it comes from books.

I can play all I know in eight bars.

Music is the most fantastic drug there is!

I don’t dig staying in one groove.

When you sing, always tell the truth.

End phrases where you feel they should end. Don’t look for resolutions you don’t feel because the books call for them.

The sound of the orchestra is one of the most magnificent musical sounds that has ever existed.

Jazz speaks for life. This is triumphant music.

Women bring something different to an instrument if they are respectful of their feminine aesthetic.

I wanted something very dense, something that would sustain long and more pieces of wood that would be soft, sweet, for more of a mellow sound.

Just because I’m playing Jazz I don’t forget about me. I play or write me the way I feel through Jazz.

Jazz was born out of the whiskey bottle, was raised on marijuana, and will expire on cocaine.

A wise man practices slowly; but a wiser man practices even slower.

I’m creating music – it doesn’t matter if anyone else likes it.

I went through a lot of mental pains and anguish about choosing between jazz and classical. I realized that where I functioned was where I should be, and where I functioned was in jazz, so that was it.

There’s always room for improvisation or changes of expression.

If you’re gonna sing meaningful songs, you have to be committed to living a life that backs that up.