Don Ellis

I expect the audience to come up to my level.

I worked until I could play and do changes at any tempo in any key and said ‘What else is there?’ Now I’m finding out.

I am not interested in compromising my music to make it palatable to an assumed sub-standard mass.

I did all you can do with a clarinet. Any more would have been less.

Deep, unspeakable suffering may well be called a baptism, a regeneration, the initiation into a new state.

Music, of course, is what I hear and something that I more or less live by. It’s not an occupation or profession, it’s a compulsion.

Don’t worry about playing a lot of notes. Just find one pretty one.

We really never know what we’re gonna play when we get on stage.

I guess you can look at me, and tell I’m the old man. My name is BB King.

Musicians need enough experience to develop a vocabulary.

No one remembers who wrote the tune, putting pen to paper in some lonely place. They remember who had the hit.

I’m glad I don’t have perfect pitch because it can drive you crazy.

I sing like I feel.

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

Audiences are smart. They are not going to come out to see you unless you are honest.

Music is a gift and a burden I’ve had since I can remember who I was.

I’m fortunate that I’m making a living at it now because I’m not equipped to do anything else.

It’s easy in music to tell what’s good. It’s hard to tell what’s bad.