Charlie Parker

Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn. They teach you there’s a boundary line to music. But, man, there’s no boundary line to art.

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

You’ve got to learn your instrument.

I realized by using the high notes of the chords as a melodic line, and by the right harmonic progression, I could play what I heard inside me. That’s when I was born.

It’s not all smoke and mirrors. Some of it comes from books.

Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn. They teach you there’s a boundary line to music. But, man, there’s no boundary line to art.

In Europe, they like everything you do. The mistakes and everything. That’s a little bit too much.

I like jazz, rock n’ roll, some hip hop – I can’t think of any music I don’t like.

I like to sleep. There is no set time of day for sleep. You sleep when you’re tired and that’s all there is to it.

Everything I’ve ever done was out of fear of being mediocre.

A drummer has to be kind-hearted.

Is there a meaning to music? Yes. Can you state in so many words what the meaning is? No.

I get interested in the various ways that music is being done in the culture, and some of it I like thoroughly enough to want to learn about it. The way I have been successful at doing that is to become part of it.

I always make it a point to pick songs on which players really shine.

I have won several prizes as the world’s slowest alto player and a special award in 1961 for quietness.

I’m not thinking about what needs to be on the radio. I’m not thinking about anything other than – I’m just going to let this music come out of me and not have any sort of preconceived notion of what I should do. I’m just going to do it.

Do it again on the next verse and people think you meant it.

The first time I went to Paris, it just felt like I was home. I didn’t question it.

If you must listen to bad music, please use headphones.

I like the interplay in the music.

I think the idea of a love song has changed. Most of the love songs we all loved as kids would be classified as funeral dirges now, you know, really super slow. I think nowadays the ballad has changed. It can have some up-tempo, some drums, some other things. ‘Forever’ would still be considered a ballad, I guess, but the tempo is probably more of a mid-tempo. The content is love song. I don’t know how to write anything else.