Jazz isn’t a what, it’s a how.
You give up your own personality when you imitate somebody.
I’m using the insides of sounds to move around in a very subtle way which, I think, ends up being inevitable.
To the person who uses music as a medium for the expression of ideas, feelings, images, or what have you; anything which facilitates this expression is properly his instrument.
It bugs me when people try to analyze Jazz as an intellectual theorem. It’s not, it’s feeling.
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.
First of all, I never strive for identity. Thats something that just has happened automatically as a result, I think, of just putting things together, tearing things apart and putting it together my own way, and somehow I guess the individual comes through eventually.
People will hire you and then tell you not to do what you were doing when they heard you.
Notes are expensive… spend them wisely!
Music used to be essential and meaningful, but now it’s disposable.
Look for the one who’s not smiling and play to that person. Once you’ve got that person, you’ve got the whole club.
It’s like an act of murder; you play with intent to commit something.
[on Ornette Coleman] Man, that cat is nuts!
I’m always thinking about creating. My future starts when I wake up in the morning and see the light. Then I’m grateful.
Some people try to get very philosophical and cerebral about what theyre trying to say with jazz. You dont need any prologues, you just play. If you have something to say of any worth then people will listen to you.
Life is not about finding our limitations, it’s about finding our infinity.
If you find a note tonight that sounds good, play the same damn note every night!
If the bass plays the root, a pianist superimposes a Maj7 built on the 5th and the sax plays the 13th, will hot women notice?
If you feel like tapping your feet, tap your feet.
Jazz Improvisation means that practice is not as straightforward as it would be when you simply have a score to play.
We quest for the perfect performance and every note has to be right. Man, every note is not right in life.
Your ear is the final judge to what sounds right and what sounds wrong.
