Joshua Redman

I’m very shy, and I shy away from people. But the moment I hit the stage, it’s a different feeling I get nerve from somewhere; maybe it’s because it’s something I love to do.

Listening is more important than anything because that’s what music is. Somebody is playing something and you’re receiving it.

Music is the most fantastic drug there is!

I developed in my head that I’m never any better than my last concert or the last time I played, so it’s like an audition each time. You get nervous just before going onstage. I still have that, but I think it’s more like concern. You’re concerned about the people – like meeting your in-laws for the first time.

You not only have to know your own instrument, you must know the others and how to back them up at all times. That’s jazz.

The thing I always default to is that I’ll always be here to write songs.

Jazz music is an aural souvenir of mankind’s attempt to express the intangible, the heart, the soul, through art.

Montreal was a very active jazz center until club owners started putting in strippers instead of music. Before long, there was nothing to hear.

Get around, be on the scene, play it clean, be seen, be keen and be over eighteen.

It’s not uncomfortable for me to be a sideman, but I feel more comfortable as a bandleader.

Music is my life, professionally, for nearly 60 years. To be recognized by the academy is still the highest honor.

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

I can tell whether a person can play just by the way he stands …If they act too hip, you know they can’t play shit.

The true beauty of music is that it connects people.

What a fool I am to think my breaking heart could kid the moon.