D C DowDell

While many forms of music may use the dynamic of improvisation, Jazz exemplifies the unique characteristic of collective improvisation.

The true value of this music lies in an artist’s individual creativity and that unique process of expression which is Jazz.

Practice as if you are the worst, play as if you are the best!

You don’t chose your inspirations, they chose you.

It is better to be felt than to be heard.

Jazz improvisation is the art of drawing without an eraser.

I’ll play it first and tell you what it is later.

I look for a deep, gutty feelin’ in a guitar tone. I don’t use picks. People ask, “How you get that?” It’s just there. There’s a lot of people try to play real fast chords-da da da da da-that ain’t the hard, solid blues. It’s synthetic. It has not feeling to it. You sit down and play some funky, funky guitar. Take your time! Don’t rush it. Just let it come flowing through you. I can play guitar so funky, it’ll bring teardrops to your eyes.

I used my mother’s radio as a PA system. I’d take the telephone, the speaking part, and take those two leads off and lead them into the radio and the sound would come out of the speaker.

I sought some kind of freedom in music, in the promise of transcendence and the idea that the purity and the innocence of a mythical god could somehow deliver me from darkness.

Most of the soloists at Birdland had to wait for Parker’s next record in order to find out what to play next. What will they do now?

Don’t give up trying to do what you really want. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.

An artist should write for himself and not for an audience. If the audience likes it, great. If not, they can keep away.

The guitar is just a wonderful instrument. It’s everything: a bartender, a psychiatrist, a housewife. It’s everything, but it’s elusive.

People will always need love, romance, a tender touch and really personal and deeply felt music.

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.

I do not wear my emotions on my sleeve; I write about them.

When you sing, always tell the truth.

The violin, the saxophone, the trumpet: Each makes a very different sound but the very same notes. That’s pretty heavy, you know ? Imagine how many different races make up the human race. I’m called colored, you’re called white, he’s called something else. We still got an asshole and a mouth. Pardon me.

Jazz is such a powerful cultural statement that it’s almost as if it’s intertwined with society.

The audience, they’re not professionals. They just love music. It isn’t necessary to play over their heads to be admired.