Lee Konitz

I’d like to feel that whatever I play is a result of whatever I’ve heard.

Sound is the first thing that we tune into.

Most jazz players work out their solos, at least to the extent that they have a very specific vocabulary.

As long as there are people trying to play music in a sincere way, there will be Jazz.

Music isn’t just learning notes and playing them. You learn notes to play the music of your soul.

Let me whisper it. Let me sigh it. Let me sing it, my dear or I will cry it.

Music making is the most joyful activity possible, the most perfect expression of any emotion.

Leo wanted me to be partners with him – for it to be the Fender guitar: the Les Paul Fender. When he approached me with the idea, he brought over a guitar and he gave it to me and I have it here. And I thought, if I’m gonna do this I’m going to go with the biggest company in the world: Gibson. Why should I fool around with some guy who is not a musician – I should go to the Gibson people.

I have younger friends who don’t work and they aren’t doing so well. My secret is to keep going, keep working.

It became a kind of a game, to remember the things that had happened five minutes ago. I would start making notes about the things I was doing, on an instrument that was foreign to me, the guitar, so it was just a fun way of doing cognitive therapy. I was none the wiser to it until I began to improve and my ability to speak began to come back.

Even if people don’t understand the language that you’re singing in, they still know good music when they hear it.

People don’t want to suffer. They want to sound good immediately and this is one of the biggest problems.

Know the business; you need to know the business side of things.

I can tell whether a person can play just by the way he stands.

I first fell in love with the piano, I knew it was me. I was dying to play.

When you begin to see the possibilities of music, you desire to do something really good for people.

My music had roots which I’d dug up from my own childhood, musical roots buried in the darkest soil.

Anytime you strike the drums, you have to be aware that you’re creating a musical event.

The fact that an artist is experiencing the joy of creation makes me feel like we’re in it together.