And ultimately the people who produce my records, they know that they’re here to serve the purpose of me expressing who I am at this period of time and augmenting that or pulling it forward and I love that process.
I didn’t know the right names for anything at first, but I knew what knocked me out. Changes… man I dug.
If you have something to say of any worth then people will listen to you.
The saxophone is actually a translation of the human voice, in my conception. All you can do is play melody. No matter how complicated it gets, it’s still a melody.
Jazz music can relax, soothe and uplift the mind when you absorb it.
Sometimes it’s to your advantage for people to think you’re crazy.
They’re singing your praises while stealing your phrases.
Music washes away the dust of every day life.
People all over the world have problems. And as long as people have problems, the blues can never die.
A young tenor player was complaining to me that Coleman Hawkins made him nervous. Man, I told him Hawkins was supposed to make him nervous! Hawkins has been making other sax players nervous for forty years!
If you have to ask what jazz is, you’ll never know.
Surrender your whole being to a note and gravity disappears.
Play for the spiritual aspect, the emotion.
If one were asked to name one musician who came closest to composing without human flaw, I suppose general consensus would choose Johann Sebastian Bach.
Jazz is a white term to define black people. My music is black classical music.
Musicians should never forget we’re blessed. We have a special gift that people enjoy through us.
I am inclined to just write music and not worry about what people can or can’t do.
Everyone is working who should be.
It could be my British need for discipline that makes me admire the American appetite for freedom and passion.
If you hit a wrong note, then make it right by what you play afterward.
My singing evolved with a feeling of intense relaxation, always using my diaphram and breathing specifically through my nose.
