Gerry Mulligan

In fact, I heard Bird first, and had got well into listening to him. You know, it’s the kind of accidental thing that awareness of a player is: what’s available, what somebody happens to play for you.

When I began listening to saxophones, I was first attracted to Coleman Hawkins.

It’s true I’ve always been attracted to the jazz band in an orchestral way, rather than a band way.

If you’ve only got one horn playing, I still want the sense of ensemble.

Miles Davis is one who writes songs when he plays.

Jazz is a music to be played and not to be intellectualized on.

Don’t play the saxophone. Let it play you.

I don’t know what they’re thinking about. Just because someone says, ‘I like what you do’ or something: They might like it today and tomorrow they might not. I’ve had that experience with record companies.

When the music changes, so does the dance.

With songwriting I spend a lot of time living life, accruing all these experiences, journaling, and then by the time I get to the studio I’m teeming with the drive to write.

I didn’t know the right names for anything at first, but I knew what knocked me out. Changes… man I dug.

I don’t want to sing anything that doesn’t come real.

The fact that an artist is experiencing the joy of creation makes me feel like we’re in it together.

Instrumental music is increasingly marginalized.

When rock music came in, I wasn’t bitter about it. I was puzzled.

Give it a good go, try to have fun at it, try to pass on some good notes and some good sounds to your fans, and I don’t think you will have wasted your time.

The real innovators did their innovating by just being themselves.

I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.

A guy is influenced by hundreds of people and things, and all show up in his work. To fasten on any one or two is ridiculous. I will say one thing, though. Lennie Tristano’s early records impressed me tremendously. Tunes like ‘Tautology,’ ‘Marshmallow,’ and ‘Fishin’ Around.’ I heard the fellows in his group building their lines with a design and general structure that was different from anything I’d ever heard in jazz.

If you find a note tonight that sounds good, play the same damn note every night!

May your heart always be joyful. May your song always be sung.