John Philip Sousa

Jazz will endure just as long people hear it through their feet instead of their brains.

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

I saw a vibraphone for the first time and knew immediately I had found my means of expression.

I would say that a composer writes music to express and communicate and put down in permanent form certain thoughts, emotions and states of being. The resultant work of art should speak to the men and women of the artist’s own time with a directness and immediacy of communicative power that no previous art expression can give.

Music is a calling that you must bring your best to, whether listening, practicing or performing.

There is a time where you’re beyond yourself, better than your technique, better than your usual ideas.

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

To get the music the way you want it, there’s a lot of work involved.

Change is always happening. That’s one of the wonderful things about Jazz music.

I worked hard learning harmony and theory when I was growing up in Chicago in the 1920s.

I have a deep respect for harmony, melodic patterns and form.

Practice 15 or 20 years and then it comes out spontaneously.

It angers me how scholars associate the blues strictly with tragedy.

By giving the public a rich and full melody, distinctly arranged and well played, all the time creating new tone colors and patterns, I feel we have a better chance of being successful. I want a kick to my band, but I don’t want the rhythm to hog the spotlight.

When I sing, I play in my mind; the minute I stop singing orally, I start to sing by playing Lucille.

Improvisation is the ability to create something very spiritual, something of one’s own.