My music is Jazz.
External instruments are only extensions of the biological instrument.
I dont do something because I think it will sell 30 million albums. I couldnt care less. If it sells one, it sells one.
You have to sound sad first, then maybe later you can sound good.
To the person who uses music as a medium for the expression of ideas, feelings, images, or what have you; anything which facilitates this expression is properly his instrument.
Man, all music is folk music. You ain’t never heard no horse sing a song, have you?
Your own music comes out of your head and emotions, but it’s not etched in your system.
If you want to make beautiful music, you must play the black and the white notes together.
Last time I saw Count Basie, he was in a wheelchair. They wheeled him up onto the stage, he sits down at the piano, and he gives the downbeat, and that band played like they were in heaven. And right in the middle, the band cuts. He had to take one hand and put the other on it, and he comes down with one note. And it was the greatest note I ever heard in my life.
Jazz music is collective creativity.
In classical music, only two people are important, the composer and the conductor. Everybody else is a serf. In jazz, a thing of beauty is created collectively with everybody getting to express an idea. And that reflects what democratic society is – or should be.
Jazz is the sound of surprise.
I’ve never recorded anything I didn’t like.
For a long time I wasn’t listening to music, to the rock and roll stuff on the radio, because it would cause me to get sweaty–it would bring back memories I didn’t want to know about, or I would get that feeling that I’m not alive ’cause I’m not making it. And if it was good, I hated it ’cause I wasn’t doing it. And if it was bad, I was furious ’cause I could’ve done it better…
Its the group sound thats important, even when youre playing a solo. You not only have to know your own instrument, you must know the others and how to back them up at all times. Thats jazz.
Music is the tool to express life – and all that makes a difference.
Even if you have some brilliant jazz ideas, it’s going to be difficult to get them across unless you have 1-a distinctive sound or 2- a loud sound. These are musts.
