Aaron Copland

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.

If you want to know about the Sixties, play the music of The Beatles.

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

A melody is not merely something you can hum.

Inspiration may be a form of superconsciousness, or perhaps of subconsciousness – I wouldn’t know. But I am sure it is the antithesis of self- consciousness.

The melody is generally what the piece is all about.

Man, as long as people want to hear Jazz, I’ll give it to them.

You not only have to know your own instrument, you must know the others and how to back them up at all times. That’s jazz.

Sometimes you need to stand with your nose to the window and have a good look at Jazz.

I’ve been told that nobody sings the word ‘hunger’ like I do.

I work very hard at being the best musician I can be because I love it.

I feel like….Music is the – it’s the answer. It’s the reason.

Players are coming from other backgrounds: rock, folk, ethnic music. It’s changing Jazz for the better.

When you begin to see the possibilities of music, you desire to do something really good for people.

Love is sweeping the country.

If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn.

There’s millions and millions of people who think Les Paul is a guitar!

I don’t care if a dude is purple with green breath as long as he can swing.

And as long as people have problems, the blues can never die.

In Jazz, improvisation isn’t a matter of just making any ol’ thing up. Jazz, like any language, has its own grammer and vocabulary. There’s no right or wrong, just some choices that are better than others.

The people who really got me off were dealing with the musical potential of their instrument.