Don’t bullshit, just play.
A beat is a moment in the life a groove.
Jazz isn’t the kind of music you’re going to learn in 3 or 4 years or get because you have talent for music.
Music does not come to you. You have to come to it and you’ll walk away with something you didn’t have before.
Nothing else will ever capture the democratic process in sound as perfectly as Jazz.
I wanted to make somebody feel like Coltrane made me feel.
Find the best teachers, listen to the finest playing and try to emulate that. Be true to the music.
Let the music speak for itself.
90%, 100% are going there to hear the singing. The story is another thing. Nobody’s interested in the story. Happiness is happiness.
We go in there and we work on altering those ideas and in many cases go in different directions.
Jazz is played from the heart. You can even live by it. Always love it.
Musicians should never forget we’re blessed. We have a special gift that people enjoy through us.
If a player is pushing their ability, a certain amount of failure is inevitable. Maybe even desirable.
I’ve always had a deep love of live performance, it’s when I feel most alive.
You can practice to learn technique, but I’m more interested in conceiving something in the moment.
When it comes to music, don’t lie to yourself; just tell yourself the truth.
It’s true I’ve always been attracted to the jazz band in an orchestral way, rather than a band way.
Learning to read music in Braille and play by ear helped me develop a damn good memory.
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.
The blues fitted in with the early 60s, the social way of life at the time.
Gershwin was right in his time, at his time. Everybody else was behind.
Man, if you gotta ask you’ll never know.
