Joe Lovano

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

If everyone liked what I did, I probably wouldn’t be playing anything of depth.

A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write to ultimately be at peace with himself.

Music happens to be an art form that transcends language.

A kiss that is never tasted, is forever and ever wasted.

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.

10% of musicians make 90% of the money, while the remaining 90% of musicians make the 10% that’s left.

In my opinion, I think sarcasm and humor in a song, without turning it into a novelty song, is really charming.

There is something about music that keeps its distance even at the moment that it engulfs us. It is at the same time outside and away from us and inside and part of us. In one sense it dwarfs us, and in another we master it. We are led on and on, and yet in some strange way we never lose control.

There’s only one thing that everyone in this world has in common: whether you want to love somebody and you want to be loved in return.

The Blues? It’s the mother of American music. That’s what is is – the source.

What I learned the most from Prince was putting art first, being creatively ambitious, and putting creativity at the forefront of what I do.

Jazz is a beautiful word. I love it.

At times as a performer they segregated us in some of theatres.

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of someone else.

The prospect of having to sit through one of Rachmaninov’s extended symphonies or piano concertos tends, quite frankly, to depress me. All those notes, and to what end?