Herbie Hancock

It’s not exclusive, but inclusive, which is the whole spirit of jazz.

In the world of Art there are no wrong choices.

The spirit of Jazz is the spirit of openness.

When I was coming up, I practiced all the time because I thought if I didn’t I couldn’t do my best.

One thing I like about jazz is that it emphasized doing things differently from what other people were doing.

Music happens to be an art form that transcends language.

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

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.

When I start writing songs and it turns into an overly belabored intellectual process, I just throw it out.

Man, you tell a story.

Just to keep it interesting I’ll tune the guitar randomly, so I don’t know what’s going to come out.

The people who know nothing about music are the ones always talking about it.

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

Indian music is very soulful and the only other school that develops improv to the high degree you find in Jazz.

Knowledge speaks, wisdom listens.

Leo wanted me to be partners with him – for it to be the Fender guitar: the Les Paul Fender. When he approached me with the idea, he brought over a guitar and he gave it to me and I have it here. And I thought, if I’m gonna do this I’m going to go with the biggest company in the world: Gibson. Why should I fool around with some guy who is not a musician – I should go to the Gibson people.

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.

[Ben Taylor] He is an interesting combination of the two of us. His voice box is more like mine but the way his tongue sits in his mouth, and the way he pronounces words, is just like James Taylor.

When you are so strongly drawn to music, you can’t ‘not’ be a musician.

You can’t rehearse a blues darlin’.

I never heard of a Jazz musician who retired. You love what you do, so what are you going to do… play for the walls?