Aaron Copland

Music that is born complex is not inherently better or worse than music that is born simple.

The greatest moments of the human spirit may be deduced from the greatest moments in music.

I hope my recordings of my own works won’t inhibit other people’s performances. The brutal fact is that one doesn’t always get the exact tempo one wants, although one improves with experience.

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.

During these years I began to feel an increasing dissatisfaction with the relations of the music-loving public and the living composer. It seemed to me that we composers were in danger of working in a vacuum.

But I have always suspected that one could substitute the Minuet of Haydn’s 98th symphony for the Minuet in Haydn’s 99th symphony without sensing a serious lack of coherence in either work.

It’s either hip or it ain’t.

You’ve got to be willing to put stuff on the line, otherwise it doesn’t have much meaning.

Music washes away the dust of every day life.

Improvisation is the ability to talk to oneself.

I don’t think anybody steals anything; all of us borrow.

Jazz is an art form that depends on its antecedents. There must be respect for the people that have gone before.

A Jazz musician is a juggler who uses harmonies instead of oranges.

My fans are the best in the world! They’ve grown up with me and stayed with me through this entire journey.

Yeah, it’s more like playing what you think is appropriate for the moment, not forcing any particular style.

Albert King wasn’t my brother in blood, but he sure was my brother in Blues!

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

I wanted to do the music, but not at the expense of being happy.

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

You’re just a little too hip for the room. It’s not good to be too hip because two hips make an ass.

Of the whole bunch of guys who play hollow body guitar, I think Herb Ellis has the most drive.