Sal Nistico

I didn’t need to worry about keys, chords, melody if I had that emotion that brought tears and laughter to people’s hearts.

When you are studying Jazz best thing to do is listen to records and live music as much you can and absorb everything.

You’ve got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail.

That’s where I heard feedback first – from Les Paul. Also vibratos – even before B.B. King, you know. I’ve traced a hell of a lot of rock and roll, little riffs and things, back to Les Paul – it’s all there. I mean, he’s the father of it all: multi-tracking and everything else. If it hadn’t been for him, there wouldn’t have been anything really.

It’s not jazz as we know jazz here in America.

I did all you can do with a clarinet. Any more would have been less.

It made no sense to ignore them and to continue writing as if they did not exist. I felt that it was worth the effort to see if I couldn’t say what I had to say in the simplest possible terms.

I’m using the insides of sounds to move around in a very subtle way which, I think, ends up being inevitable.

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.

Jazz? has no boundaries.

I can play all I know in eight bars.

Jazz is a work in progress. We’ll be defining traditions in Jazz for 200-300 years.

Anyone who understands Jazz knows that you can’t understand it. It’s too complicated. That’s what’s so simple about it.

Jazz music has always made powerful statements about freedom, creativity and personal identity.

Everything I’ve ever done was out of fear of being mediocre.