Nat Hentoff

Audiences are smart. They are not going to come out to see you unless you are honest.

Genius is a word too often tossed around in musical circles.

I’ve tried all my life to avoid copying. If I can’t be myself, there’s no point being in Jazz.

I don’t have a definition of Jazz. You’re just supposed to know it when you hear it.

When I cannot sing my heart, I can only speak my mind.

Let the music speak for itself.

Music does not come to you. You have to come to it and you’ll walk away with something you didn’t have before.

Today Jazz music is performed and listened to by people of all ethnicity, backgrounds, ages and creeds.

If everyone liked what I did, I probably wouldn’t be playing anything of depth.

The trio is the biggest sound you can have with the smallest unit.

A great thing about being a musician is you don’t stop until the day you die.

I’m fortunate that I’m making a living at it now because I’m not equipped to do anything else.

Players are coming from other backgrounds: rock, folk, ethnic music. It’s changing Jazz for the better.

We made records to document ourselves, not to sell a lot of records. I still feel that way. I put out a record because I think it’s beautiful, not necessarily commercial.

They always want to sell me as a hard bopper.