Ornette Coleman

After I left Texas and went to California, I had a hard time getting anyone to play anything that I was writing, so I had to end up playing them myself. And that’s how I ended up just being a saxophone player.

I don’t know what they’re thinking about. Just because someone says, ‘I like what you do’ or something: They might like it today and tomorrow they might not. I’ve had that experience with record companies.

The human being receives the pleasure from music, not from the argument over what it is.

I’ve had those people very interested in my writing. Since I think of myself as a composer, I feel really good. I’ve had lots of guys call me up. I’ve gotten two or three commissions to write things. I’ve written lots of movie scores.

I asked my mother could I have an instrument. She said, ‘Well if you go out and save your money.’ So I went and got – I made me a shine box. I went out and started shining shoes, and I’d bring whatever I made.

The hidden things, the subconscious that lies in the body and lets you know: You feel this, you play this.

The greatest thing about music is putting it out there for people to figure out.

Our music artistry should not be disconnected from our lives or ourselves.

Music happens to be an art form that transcends language.

Each time I have the opportunity to play, it’s another chance to tell the truth.

Jazz is not dead, it just smells funny.

You know why I quit playing ballads? Cause I love playing ballads.

I thought of nothing else but rock ‘n’ roll; apart from sex and food and money–but that’s all the same thing, really.

I write songs about real things… The subject dictates the mood and it goes from there, really.

I’d rather be B.B. King. That’s the way I started. Let the heavy metal guys play heavy metal, let the others play the other… I try to do what I do better, not get away from it.

I’ve always liked the Freddie King/B. B. King rich tone, and at the same time, I like the manic Buddy Guy/Otis Rush Strat tone. So I’m always caught in the middle of the Gibson and Fender sounds. If I’m playing my black [Fender] Strat, and I’m in the middle of a blues, I kind of wish I was playing a [Gibson] Les Paul. Then again, if I was playing a Les Paul, the sound would be great, but I’d be saying, “Man, I wish I had the Stratocaster neck!”

As long as I can say what it is that I need to say, then I’ll fit whatever I’m trying to say around a melody.

Start well and end well. The middle will look after itself.

A guitar is something you can hold and love and it’s never going to bug you. But here’s the secret about the guitar – it’s defiant. It will never let you conquer it. The more you get involved with it, the more you realize how little you know.

It is Jazz’s very nature to change, to develop and adapt to the circumstances of its environment.

It’s easy in music to tell what’s good. It’s hard to tell what’s bad.