Always keep reaching.
Inspiration comes from tunes you play, other musicians and your own imagination.
Improvising musicians are musical travelers, voyagers. There is a freedom to wander the musical landscape.
I think when my brother (Claude who founded vocal sextet Take Six) got his deal and I saw him on the Grammys that was when I said, ‘oh, you know what? If he can do it then maybe I can do too’ and that’s when I really focused on trying to make it in this business.
I sing like I feel.
Don’t bullshit, just play.
If you can’t play the Blues you might as well hang it up.
As far as playing jazz, no other art form, other than conversation, can give the satisfaction of spontaneous interaction.
Bird said he worked as dishwasher at Onyx Club on 52nd St. in the early 1940s just to hear Art Tatum play.
I felt like I was making a record under the radar, and that is my favorite way to do anything.
How do I know why Miles walks off the stage? Why don’t you ask him? And besides, maybe we’d all like to be like Miles, and just haven’t got the guts.
Music should always be an adventure.
There are some people that if they don’t know, you can’t tell them.
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.
Many people forget that Jazz, no matter what form it takes, must come from the heart as well as the mind.
I did all you can do with a clarinet. Any more would have been less.
I’ve always had a deep love of live performance, it’s when I feel most alive.
If everyone liked what I did, I probably wouldn’t be playing anything of depth.
