Herb Ellis

Only in spontaneity can we be who we truly are.

You know the actor John Garfield? In one movie he walked up to this train station, the ticket booth, and the guy says, ‘Yes, where are you going?’ And he says, ‘I want a ticket to nowhere.’ I thought: that’s it. The freedom to do that. I want a ticket to nowhere.

You explore beautiful songs and create your own interpretation of them.

I heard someone say ‘What’s that kid doing here? Call your piano player and let’s get started.’

The saxophone is actually a translation of the human voice, in my conception. All you can do is play melody. No matter how complicated it gets, it’s still a melody.

There are some people that if they don’t know, you can’t tell them.

I was really running a music school back then, because my band wasn’t making any money. I keep talking about money, because most people don’t understand the part of money in running a band.

Jazz attracted me because in it I found a formal perfection and instrumental precision I admire in classical music, but which popular music doesn’t have.

Jazz stands for freedom.

I think of guitar players in terms of doctors: you have the doctor for your heart, the cardiologist, then one that works on your feet, your leg. But I believe George Benson is the one that plays all over. To me, he would be the M.D. of them all.

I’m going to be on the road for the rest of my life.

I’m trying to make music a sensual expression, not and academic experiment.

I wanted something very dense, something that would sustain long and more pieces of wood that would be soft, sweet, for more of a mellow sound.

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

I don’t do something because I think it’ll sell 30 million albums. I couldn’t care less if it sells just one.