John Coltrane

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

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

All a musician can do is to get closer to the source.

Through Dizzy and Bird I began to learn about musical structures and the more theoretical aspects of music.

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

Sometimes I think I was making music through the wrong end of a magnifying glass.

I would say that a composer writes music to express and communicate and put down in permanent form certain thoughts, emotions and states of being. The resultant work of art should speak to the men and women of the artist’s own time with a directness and immediacy of communicative power that no previous art expression can give.

I have a deep respect for harmony, melodic patterns and form.

If you’re making money people don’t think you’re playing Jazz. When you’re not making money they think you’re a great Jazz musician.

My music had roots which I’d dug up from my own childhood, musical roots buried in the darkest soil.

Jazz has evolved with an inner necessity characteristic of any true art form.

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

When there was vinyl, I just loved opening a record and smelling that wonderful smell.

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.

Music is everybody’s possession. It’s only publishers who think that people own it.

Have you ever wondered why young people take to music like fish to water? Maybe it’s because music is fun, plain and simple.

To keep a band together you simply need a gimmick. The gimmick I use is to pay them money.

Of course there are a lot of ways you can treat the blues, but it will still be the blues.

Only play what you hear. If you don’t hear anything, don’t play anything.

I never wanted to be like other blues singers. I might like hearing them play, but I’ve never wanted to be anyone other than myself. There are a few people that I’ve wished I could play like, but when I tried, it didn’t work.

Inspiration comes from tunes you play, other musicians and your own imagination.