Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App

" I don't worry too much about the fundamentalist principles that are in almost any discussion about jazz. "

Related Quotes:

" I have three young kids and a great family. I love hanging out with them more than anything. "

" I think jazz is actually quite unforgiving in its disdain for nostalgia. It demands creativity and change at its highest level. "

" I think I have a basic sound aesthetic that is in most of what I do. "

" The first thing I learned was the theme from Peter Gunn. "

" If you come to my house, you won't see a wall of trophies or things like that. I'm sort of 'on to the next thing' all the time. "

" There are musicians who go through their lives sort of shedding their skins. For me, I've always felt backward-compatible to Version 1.0. "

" There are some musicians who are talented and see themselves as some kind of natural geniuses or something because of a certain amount of natural ability. But that is often rarely the case over the long term. "

" I would always contend that talent is an element, but over the long run, ultimately, a minor part of it all; it is mostly hard work. "

" For me, let's keep jazz as folk music. Let's not make jazz classical music. Let's keep it as street music, as people's everyday-life music. Let's see jazz musicians continue to use the materials, the tools, the spirit of the actual time that they're living in, as what they build their lives as musicians around. "

" If we are going to list guitar influences, the biggest one by far is Wes Montgomery. Also, Gary Burton was obviously huge for me in a number of ways. But beyond that, Clifford Brown, Miles Davis and Freddie Hubbard. "

" It's more about conception and touch and spirit and soul than whether my hardware was in place. "

" I didn't want there to be a computer on stage. When I see people with computers on stage, I think, 'Are you sending e-mail?' That's so corny. "

" Someone who knew me when I was 14 said I was the oldest 14-year-old on the planet. Now I'm a 14-year-old who is 60. "

" The guitar for me is a translation device. It's not a goal. And in some ways, jazz isn't a destination for me. For me, jazz is a vehicle that takes you to the true destination - a musical one that describes all kinds of stuff about the human condition and the way music works. "

" I don't know if I would qualify as mainstream. I think I have managed to function pretty successfully on the fringes of the music world and have been able to play exactly what I have wanted the way I have wanted. "

" I think I represent a more left-wing view of what jazz is. "

" Jazz is not something that can be defined through blunt instruments. It is much more poetic than that. "

" When talking about writing, I often use the analogy of archaeology. There are these great tunes all around. Your skill as a musician allows you to pick them out without breaking them. "

" I used to love going and playing jam sessions, doing things spontaneously. I can't do that anymore. Everything you do is documented, nothing is casual anymore. "

" Somehow, trumpet is the reference point for me - it was actually my first instrument. "

" I can't really say enough about Chris Potter. He is one of the greatest musicians I have ever known, and every second I have been on the band stand with him has been an absolute pleasure. "

" One of the things jazz has always excelled at is translating the reality of the times through its musical prism. "

" The pianist Cecil Taylor is extremely melodic; the guitarist Derek Bailey is extremely melodic, and Ornette Coleman. "

" Listening is the key to everything good in music. "

" What I look for in musicians is a sense of infinity. "

" I realized that equipment really had little to do with why I sound like the way I sound. "

" Whatever my recorded output is, it's a reflection of a general love of music. "

" I was able to work with the best musicians in Kansas City starting when I was really young. "

" I'm always trying to find 'connections' between things. That art is the juxtaposition of a lot of things that seem unrelated but add up to something recognizable. "

" I love playing and working on music. It is something that I feel really lucky to be able to spend my life doing. And I don't sleep much! "