Scott LaFaro

I don’t like to look back because the whole point in Jazz is doing it now.

Jazz music is the power of now.

Dance music-as I keep saying, you can dance to a windshield wiper… a windshield wiper that’s fairly steady gives you a beat and all you need is an out-of-tune playing ‘Melancholy Baby’ and you’ve got dance music.

To keep a band together you simply need a gimmick. The gimmick I use is to pay them money.

It isn’t where you came from, its where you’re going that counts.

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.

A band ought to have a sound all of its own. It ought to have a personality.

Jazz improvisation is the art of drawing without an eraser.

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

If you find a note tonight that sounds good, play the same damn note every night!

For me, the most important thing is the element of chance that is built into a live performance. The very great drawback of recorded sound is the fact that it is always the same. No matter how wonderful a recording is, I know that I couldn’t live with it–even of my own music–with the same nuances forever.

I’m sure critics have their purpose, and they’re supposed to do what they do, but sometimes they get a little carried away with what they think someone should have done, rather than concerning themselves with what he did.

Jazz is a living music; since its beginning has expressed the feelings, dreams and hopes of the people.

Jazz music is the real deal.

May you live to be 100 and may the last voice you hear be mine.

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