Jazz isn’t a what, it’s a how.
It bugs me when people try to analyze Jazz as an intellectual theorem. It’s not, it’s feeling.
My creed for art in general is that it should enrich the soul; it should teach spirituality by showing a person a portion of himself that he would not discover otherwise . . . a part of yourself you never knew existed.
Especially, I want my work-and the trios if possible-to sing.
Perhaps it is a peculiarity of mine that despite the fact that I am a professional performer, it is true that I have always preferred playing without an audience.
Music comes from the moment, it is spontaneous, it exists at the time it is created.
I’m using the insides of sounds to move around in a very subtle way which, I think, ends up being inevitable.
I don’t intend to be a performing flea anymore. I was the dreamweaver, but although I’ll be around I don’t intend to be running at 20,000 miles an hour trying to prove myself. I don’t want to die at 40.
I’m not going to change the way I look or the way I feel to conform to anything. I’ve always been a freak. So I’ve been a freak all my life and I have to live with that, you know. I’m one of those people.
There are a million good tunes.
Once I could play what I heard inside me, that’s when I was born.
Jazz translates the moment into a sense of inspiration for not only the musicians but for the listeners.
I don’t know what they’re thinking about. Just because someone says, ‘I like what you do’ or something: They might like it today and tomorrow they might not. I’ve had that experience with record companies.
I don’t need words. It’s all in the phrasing.
The popular song is America’s greatest ambassador.
I am very aware that so little has happened to the electric guitar from the time that it was conceived to now; where there are so little changes made where there should be drastic changes made. If we were to put our heads together and start thinking about modern technology we would be much more advantaged with the electric guitar than we are. I think that we’ve been stagnant for many years.
Jazz is a spectacularly accurate model of democracy and a look into our redemptive future possibilities.
Jazz is an art that makes a person completely naked.
If you’re gonna sing meaningful songs, you have to be committed to living a life that backs that up.
As long as you’ve got your horn in your mouth, you’re developing.
In order to be honest with myself, I have to reveal more of who I am. This is a part of the improv process.
I’m always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I’ve been.
