David Sanborn

Instrumental music is increasingly marginalized.

You’ve got to be willing to put stuff on the line, otherwise it doesn’t have much meaning.

You never get it figured out. You just keep playing.

Its all about finding the right note at the right place and knowing when to leave it alone.

Django was the definitive genius on the guitar, and the depth of his gift was so spectacular.

How do I know why Miles walks off the stage? Why don’t you ask him? And besides, maybe we’d all like to be like Miles, and just haven’t got the guts.

I don’t really live like a musician myself. I think music is just something that I do, but I’d like to be doing lots of other things. I like to cure all kinds of illness.

However it goes, I’ll just keep playing. That’s where the basic satisfaction is at.

Jazz is a spectacularly accurate model of democracy and a look into our redemptive future possibilities.

Everyone is working who should be.

While many attempts have been made to define Jazz, what’s the point really. Jazz is to be experienced – period.

The great jazz instrumentalists taught me how to sing and interpret a song. they showed me how a horn can have as much personality as an actor.

Check out the albums, … Check out the live performances. That’s the reality of it all. Music is such an energizing thing.

Of the whole bunch of guys who play hollow body guitar, I think Herb Ellis has the most drive.

Kinship doesn’t come from skin color. It’s in your soul and your mind.

The minute I stop singing orally, I start to sing by playing Lucille.

Jazz is not a what, it is a how.

The music field was the first to break down racial barriers, because in order to play together, you have to love the people you are playing with, and if you have any racial inhibitions, you wouldn’t be able to do that.

I like chords that are very lush with all the lush parts taken out.