Stan Getz

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.

I learn something new every day.

There are four qualities essential to a great jazzman. They are taste, courage, individuality, and irreverence. These are the qualities I want to retain in my music.

I never have any trouble playing anything I can think of. The trouble is thinking of what to play.

The saxophone is an imperfect instrument, especially the tenor and soprano, as far as intonation goes. The challenge is to sing on an imperfect instrument that is outside of your body.

The saxophone is actually a translation of the human voice, in my conception. All you can do is play melody. No matter how complicated it gets, it’s still a melody.

The fact that an artist is experiencing the joy of creation makes me feel like we’re in it together.

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

I’ve never written a political song. Songs can’t save the world. I’ve gone through all that.

When I got started in New York, if you were different from Miles and Dizzy it was very difficult.

Jazz singing is like pornography. You can’t say what it is, but you know it when you see it.

I always think of music as interior decoration. So, if you have all kinds of music, you are fully decorated!

The first jazz I heard was Duke Ellington. I was learning to play classical music, but my teacher swapped out those lessons for jazz lessons because I had started adding grace notes to Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff.

I’m always interested in looking forward toward the future. Carving out new ways of looking at things.

If a guy’s got it, let him give it. I’m selling music, not prejudice.

Even when you write it, someone’s got to play it. So if you can play it and bypass all the rest of the things, you’re still doing as great as someone that has spent forty years trying to find out how to do that. I’m really pro-human beings, pro-expression of everything.

It is this tendency to play with manic enthusiasm on every possible occasion that distinguishes the amateur Jazz musician from the professional.

If I’m not saying it in four choruses or less, then I’m not saying it.

I’m not playing for other musicians. We’re trying to reach the guy who works all day and wants to spend a buck at night. We’ll keep him happy.

One of the advantages of growing older is you learn what to leave out.

What are you going to do when you love music? You can’t stop.