Nat Hentoff

Don’t bullshit, just play.

Just ’cause I’ve forgotten more than I can play, doesn’t mean it’s not Improv.

First of all, I never strive for identity. That’s something that just has happened automatically as a result, I think, of just putting things together, tearing things apart and putting it together my own way, and somehow I guess the individual comes through eventually.

I think that those elements – light and sound – are beyond democratic. They’re into the creative part of life.

I hate to think of Jazz as black and white, something political.

I’ll be writing songs till I die. There’s just no question.

I listen to all kinds of songs. There’s something to be learned from every type of music and from the one making it, whether it’s pop or jazz or hip-hop.

Forgive me if I don’t have the words. Maybe I can sing it and you’ll understand.

The memory of things gone is important to a jazz musician. Things like old folks singing in the moonlight in the back yard on a hot night or something said long ago.

For years the trio did nothing but play for musicians and other hip people. We starved.

I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That’s all I know.

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.

Talent is cheap, and many talents treat themselves cheaply.

I don’t know anything about music. In my line you don’t have to.

A great teacher stimulates his student’s creativity enough so that they go out and find the answers themselves.