Pat Metheny

I don’t worry too much about the fundamentalist principles that are in almost any discussion about Jazz.

People sometimes say it takes a long time to become a Jazz fan, but for me it took about five seconds.

My first relationship to any kind of musical situation is as a listener.

Jazz music will continue to thrive, possibly in unexpected ways.

Jazz is an idea that is more powerful than the details of its history.

Jazz demands that you bring to it things that are valuable to you, that are personal to you.

To this day, no one has come up with a set of rules for originality. There aren’t any.

Apparently Jazz is now considered high art and the average person has trouble understanding it.

Early on, I figured out that when the top of a guitar is vibrating and a string is vibrating, you’ve got a conflict. One of them has got to stop, and it can’t be the string, because that’s making the sound. So in 1934, I asked the Larson Brothers—Chicago instrument makers—to build me a guitar with a half-inch-thick maple top and no f-holes. They thought I was crazy.

There’s a category for me. I like to be referred to as a good singer of good songs in good taste.

You give up your own personality when you imitate somebody.

If you listen to Donny Hathaway, he had a lot of jazz elements in the way he sang, … For me, the two styles borrow from each other so much that sometimes it’s hard for me to make a distinction. When you hear Lalah sing the combination, that’s when she really shines – when she’s allowed to dip into her jazz when she wants to and then get soulful and do the R ‘n’ B thing.

I would like you to know, I am a doctor of music.

I always wanted to play the piano, and jazz appealed to me.

I have no elitist concepts about Jazz. I would not be the musician I am today without experiencing invaluable music styles that are at the roots of African American black life and culture.

You want the listener to find the song on their own, give too much away and it takes away from the imagination.

Some players get very philosophical and cerebral about Jazz. You don’t need any prologues, you just play.

Musicians have a really big part to play in spreading messages because they’re able to reach a large portion of people on an emotional level. Artists reach people at their heart; it’s the only time we meet in one place and put our differences aside. When you’re in a forum listening to music, all you feel in that moment is love and the understanding.

The people who know nothing about music are the ones always talking about it.

What have I got? No looks, no money, no education… just talent.

A name doesn’t make the music. It’s just called that to differentiate it from other types of music.