The Blues is never old.
You have to understand the styles and it’s good to study those that came before us.
It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.
It is evidently known, beyond contradiction, that New Orleans is the cradle of Jazz and I, myself, happened to be the creator in the year 1902.
Yeah, it’s more like playing what you think is appropriate for the moment, not forcing any particular style.
Some twenty years ago, during the course of a memorable evening at the Stravinskys’ home in Los Angeles, the venerable maestro turned to me and said in no uncertain terms: ‘My dear, you should conduct your own music. All composers should conduct their own music!
Instrumental music can spread the international language.
Always keep reaching.
Jazz has borrowed from other genres of music and also has lent itself to other genres of music.
Mozart tapped the source from which all music flows, expressing himself with a spontaneity and refinement and breathtaking rightness.
The better it gets, the fewer of us know it.
My first relationship to any kind of musical situation is as a listener.
I would sit on the street corners in my hometown of Indianola, Mississippi, and I would play. And, generally, I would start playing gospel songs. People would come by on the street – you live in Time Square, you know how they do it – they would bunch up. And they would always compliment me on gospel tunes, but they would tip me when I played blues.
Genius is a word too often tossed around in musical circles.
The piano ain’t got no wrong notes.
I feel that Jazz improvisation is the ultimate. You have to create on the spot, the essence of this music.
Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you dont live it, it wont come out of your horn. They teach you theres a boundary line to music. But, man, theres no boundary line to art.