Herbie Hancock

You can practice to learn technique, but I’m more interested in conceiving something in the moment.

Creativity shouldn’t be following radio; it should be the other way around.

Jazz? has no boundaries.

Creativity and artistic endeavors have a mission far beyond just making music for the sake of music.

I’m always interested in looking forward toward the future. Carving out new ways of looking at things.

A great teacher stimulates his student’s creativity enough so that they go out and find the answers themselves.

In my family on my mother’s side we’re all church musicians first so I don’t remember a time when we weren’t doing something musical. My brothers and I sang in a little quartet, my aunts and uncles sang and my grandfather was a minister of music in our church, so walking and talking was like doing music for us.

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.

The first jazz I heard was Duke Ellington. I was learning to play classical music, but my teacher swapped out those lessons for jazz lessons because I had started adding grace notes to Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff.

While many attempts have been made to define Jazz, what’s the point really. Jazz is to be experienced – period.

Do not fear mistakes, there are none.

I don’t intend to be a performing flea anymore. I was the dreamweaver, but although I’ll be around I don’t intend to be running at 20,000 miles an hour trying to prove myself. I don’t want to die at 40.

Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.

I grew up with the piano. I learned its language as I learned to speak.

My role as a drummer is as a team player to enhance what is going on around me.

Don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there.

Unless I really loved it and felt really passionate about it, I would just kind of abort the song and start a new one.

If someone thinks that peace and love are just a cliche that must have been left behind in the 60s, that’s a problem. Peace and love are eternal.

I’m a musician at heart, I know I’m not really a singer. I couldn’t compete with real singers. But I sing because the public buys it.

Music’s a good thing, it calm the beast in the man.

Of the whole bunch of guys who play hollow body guitar, I think Herb Ellis has the most drive.