Ken Burns

The genius of our country is improvisation, and jazz reflects that. It’s our great contribution to the arts.

Jazz is a spectacularly accurate model of democracy and a look into our redemptive future possibilities.

Jazz is a very accurate, curiously accurate accompaniment to 20th century America.

Forget about upholding the tradition and just play who you really are.

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

I’ll play it first and tell you what it is later.

Music is what feelings sound like.

Surrender your whole being to a note and gravity disappears.

The better it gets, the fewer of us know it.

The people who really got me off were dealing with the musical potential of their instrument.

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

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

I always had a deep feeling to be one with the very minute I’m in.

The piano ain’t got no wrong notes.

People always ask, “Why jazz?” and I’m like “Why not?” It’s kind of like asking Seurat, “Why so many dots?” I imagine if you asked Bjork, “Why the Tibetan bells?” She’d probably be like “That’s just what I heard.” It’s the same thing. This is just the way I see music.

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

When you listen to a pianist, each notes should have an identity, each note should have a soul of its own.

Just because I’m playing jazz I don’t forget about me. I play or write me the way I feel through jazz, or whatever. Music is, or was, a language of the emotions.