Stan Getz

Life is too full of distractions nowadays. When I was a kid we had a little Emerson radio and that was it. We were more dedicated. We didn’t have a choice.

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.

If you like an instrument that sings, play the saxophone. At its best it’s like the human voice

As far as playing jazz, no other art form, other than conversation, can give the satisfaction of spontaneous interaction.

I came from an era when we didn’t use electronic instruments. The bass wasn’t even amplified. The sound was the sound you got.

My dark sound could be heard across a room clearer than somebody with a reedy sound. It had more projection. My sound always seemed to fill a room.

Once you start collecting records you learn more and more about Jazz and Blues.

Music is to the soul what water is to the body.

As long as there are people trying to play music in a sincere way, there will be Jazz.

I realized by using the high notes of the chords as a melodic line, and by the right harmonic progression, I could play what I heard inside me. That’s when I was born.

The problem is that a lot of the blues stations are late on Saturday night, and like a lot of people, I ain’t no vampire!

I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That’s all I know

Vocalists must study music and know everything an instrumentalist needs to know.

I’m not going to change the way I look or the way I feel to conform to anything. I’ve always been a freak. So I’ve been a freak all my life and I have to live with that, you know. I’m one of those people.

Hipness is not a state of mind, it’s a fact of life.

Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes doesn’t mean he lacks vision.

There’s millions and millions of people who think Les Paul is a guitar!

I am an American citizen and feel I am entitled to the same rights as any other citizen.

We’re not like pop musicians who have to perform the same top ten tunes every night of a tour.

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.

The essentials of Jazz are: melodic improvisation, melodic invention, swing and instrumental personality.