John Coltrane

I start in the middle of a sentence and move both directions at once.

I’ve found you’ve got to look back at the old things and see them in a new light.

Sometimes I wish I could walk up to my music for the first time, as if I had never heard it before.

You can play a shoestring if you’re sincere.

The first time I heard Bird play, it hit me right between the eyes.

Invest yourself in everything you do. There’s fun in being serious.

Play what you feel, feel what you play.

Jazz without the Blues is like BBQ without the sauce.

You know the actor John Garfield? In one movie he walked up to this train station, the ticket booth, and the guy says, ‘Yes, where are you going?’ And he says, ‘I want a ticket to nowhere.’ I thought: that’s it. The freedom to do that. I want a ticket to nowhere.

Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.

Jazz is not background music. You must concentrate in order to get the most out of it. You must absorb it.

Music allows the great opportunity to play with people you love.

I worked hard learning harmony and theory when I was growing up in Chicago in the 1920s.

The truth is I never gave it much thought. I just played what I had to play.

I see my body as an instrument, rather than an ornament.

My Strat is another arm, it’s part of me. It doesn’t feel like a guitar at all. It’s an implement which is my voice.

If you follow your passions, you’ll never work a day in your life.

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.

The fans dictate to you when you’re done!

Jazz has the ability to absorb and transform influences from diverse musical styles.

I was first awakened to musical exploration by Dizzy and Bird.