Jazz isn’t a what, it’s a how.
Its performing without any really set basis for the lines and the content as such emotionally or, specifically, musically. And if you sit down and contemplate what youre going to do, and take five hours to write five minutes of music, then its composed music. Therefore I would put it in the classical or serious, whatever you want to call it, written-music category. So theres composed music and theres jazz. And to me anybody that makes music using the process that we are using in Jazz, is playing Jazz.
I went through a lot of mental pains and anguish about choosing between jazz and classical. I realized that where I functioned was where I should be, and where I functioned was in jazz, so that was it.
I always like people who have developed long and hard, particularly through introspection and a lot of dedication. I think that what they arrive at is, usually, deeper and more beautiful than the person who seems to have that ability and fluidity from the beginning.
Everyone is working who should be.
I say this because it’s a good message to give to young talents who feel as I used to. You hear musicians playing with great fluidity and complete conception early on, and you don’t have that ability. I didn’t. I had to know what I was doing. And ultimately it turned out that these people weren’t able to carry their thing very far. I found myself being more attracted to artists who have developed through the years and become better and deeper musicians.I believe in things that are developed through hard work.
A guy is influenced by hundreds of people and things, and all show up in his work. To fasten on any one or two is ridiculous. I will say one thing, though. Lennie Tristanos early records impressed me tremendously. Tunes like Tautology, Marshmallow, and Fishin Around. I heard the fellows in his group building their lines with a design and general structure that was different from anything Id ever heard in jazz.
As long as you’ve got your horn in your mouth, you’re developing.
I play as I feel.
Even now, at 82 years old, if I don’t learn something every day, you know what I think? It’s a day lost. Now, I don’t practice every day. I just take the guitar, swear at it. But I should be swearing at myself. But I fool with music. I’m doing something musically all the time. And my ears are wide open for anything I can hear.
By and large Jazz has always been like the kind of a man you wouldn’t want your daughter to associate with.
Will the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? All the rest of you, if you
If my own work had more importance than any others, it’s because the piano is the key instrument in music.
One of the great moments of my life was when I could write musician on my passport.
Jazzmen are our surrogates for the unpredictable, our paladins of constant change.
I keep these songs in my head until I get behind the microphone. I never spend more than 30 or 40 minutes singing the vocal or it will sound mechanical. There are always mistakes, but it’s about feeling more than being perfect.
Your daddy’s rich and your ma is good lookin’ So hush little baby don’t you cry.
The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.
Music is like wine, the less you know about it the sweeter you like it.
Jazz has borrowed from other genres of music and also has lent itself to other genres of music.
If you’re trying to be hip, be hip!
Jazz is rhythm and meaning.
