John Coltrane

Sometimes I think I was making music through the wrong end of a magnifying glass.

All a musician can do is to get closer to the source.

The first time I heard Bird play, it hit me right between the eyes.

Invest yourself in everything you do. There’s fun in being serious.

Sometimes I wish I could walk up to my music for the first time, as if I had never heard it before.

My music is the spiritual expression of what I am: my faith, my knowledge, my being.

Lionel Richie told me forget about the critics. But if you come back with hit after hit, you don’t have to worry about anything.

When I heard T-Bone, I flat out lost my mind.

By and large Jazz has always been like the kind of a man you wouldn’t want your daughter to associate with.

I love it. When they stop imitating me then I’ll start wondering where I’m going wrong. Every day when I sit down to play, I learn something new.

Music is my mistress and she plays second fiddle to no one.

No one remembers who wrote the tune, putting pen to paper in some lonely place. They remember who had the hit.

I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me-like food or water.

Sometimes you need to stand with your nose to the window and have a good look at Jazz.

For years the Trio did nothing but play for musicians and other hip people. We practically starved to death.

One of the reasons we’re here is to be a part of this process of exchange.

Anybody can write music of a sort. But touching the public heart is quite another thing.

I really feel like I made it a great record. I really feel good about it. In this day and age to make a record that you say, ‘This is different,’ that’s a tough nut. I did it by accident but it got done. I don’t know what I’m doing, but I know how to do it.

We’re here to have a ball.

No one is original. Everyone is derivative.

Improvisation is the most widespread of all musical activities. Why did so many people spend so long pretending it never happened?