“Schlepping all of the equipment is the part I hate more than anything.” John Abercrombie
“Hipness is not a state of mind, It’s a fact of life!” Cannonball Adderley
“If they act too hip, you know they can’t play sh*t!” Louis Armstrong
“Each man has his own music bubbling up inside him.” Louis Armstrong
“Man, all music is folk music. You ain’t never heard no horse sing a song, have you?” Louis Armstrong
“One of the things I like about jazz, kid, is I don’t know what’s going to happen next.” Bix Beiderbecke
“I never wanted to be famous, I only wanted to be great.” Ray Charles
“Musicians tell me, if what I’m doing is right, they should never have gone to school.” Ornette Coleman
“Jazz is the only music in which the same note can be played night after night but differently each time.” Ornette Coleman
“Don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there.” Miles Davis
“Do not fear mistakes, there are none.” Miles Davis
“I ain’t no entertainer, and ain’t trying to be one. I am one thing, a musician.” Miles Davis
“I think I had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to sound like a dry martini.” Paul Desmond
“We’re working as if it were going out of style, which of course it is.” Paul Desmond
“When you hear music, after it’s over, it’s gone, in the air, you can never capture it again.” Eric Dolphy
“A goal is a dream with a finish line.” Duke Ellington
“If it sounds good and feels good, then it IS good!” Duke Ellington
“It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.” Duke Ellington
“Somebody’s got to make some music around here.” Robben Ford
“Boxing is like jazz, the better it is, the less people appreciate it.” George Foreman
“To me, jazz is a place where anything is possible.” Bill Frisell
“It’s taken me all my life to learn what not to play.” Dizzy Gillespie
“Jazz is music made by and for people who have chosen to feel good in spite of conditions.” Johnny Griffin
“In the midst of creating, a person is raised to another level of consciousness.” Charlie Haden
“Don’t think of yourself as a jazz musician. Think of yourself as a human being who plays music.” Charlie Haden
“You may have holes in your shoes, but don’t let the people out front know it. Shine the tops.” Earl Hines
“Notes are an intelligent way of moving from one silence to another.” Jim Hall
“All the sounds of the earth are like music.” Oscar Hammerstein II
“If you believe, you will. If you don’t, you won’t.” Eddie Harris
“Jazz is an art form that depends on its antecedents, there must be respect for the people that have gone before.” Jon Hendricks
“Always be smarter than the people who hire you.” Lena Horne
“The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.” B.B. King
“Jazz is the continual pulsation of the now.” Pat Martino
“Jazz is rhythm and meaning.” Henri Matisse
“Don’t worry, be happy.” Bobby McFerrin
“Blues is to jazz what yeast is to bread. Without it, it’s flat.” Carmen McRae
“Jazz is a verb, it’s more like a process than it is a thing.” Pat Metheny
“The main thing in my life…is that I really need to go home and practice.” Pat Metheny
“Most guys at Berklee are going to wind up truck drivers.” Pat Metheny
“My first relationship to any kind of musical situation is as a listener.” Pat Metheny
“In my music, I’m trying to play the truth of what I am.” Charles Mingus
“Wrong is right.” Thelonious Monk
“Jazz is my adventure.” Thelonious Monk
“Anybody talented in any way - they’re called eccentric.” Thelonious Monk
“Man, that cat is nuts!” Thelonius Monk on Ornette Coleman
“I never practice my guitar. From time to time I just open the case and throw in a piece of raw meat.” Wes Montgomery
“Regardless of what you play, the biggest thing is keeping the feel going.” Wes Montgomery
“I am a devout musician.” Charlie Parker
“Master your instrument, master the music, and then forget all that crap and just play.” Charlie Parker
“Listen, listen, listen.” Joe Pass
“It ain’t braggin’ if you can back it up!” Jaco Pastorius
“A chimpanzee could learn to do what I do physically. But it goes way beyond that. When you play, you play life.” Jaco Pastorius
“Listen, I don’t care about the guitar; music is the main thing. I just happen to play the guitar.” Jimmy Raney
“If the rhythm section is really swinging it’s such a great feeling - you just want to laugh!” Emily Remler
“Wes Montgomery played impossible things on the guitar because it was never pointed out to him that they were impossible.” Ronnie Scott
“I simply want to reach a level where I will never cease to make progress.” Sonny Rollins
“I’m fortunate that I’m making a living at it now because I’m not equipped to do anything else.” Sonny Rollins
“Jazz is the type of music that can absorb so many things and still be jazz.” Sonny Rollins
“Like a boxer’s punch, one good note is all it takes.” Angel Romero
“Jazz is not background music.” Horace Silver
“As long as you’ve got your horn in your mouth, you’re developing.” Zoot Sims
“Imitate, assimilate, and innovate.” Clark Terry
“My teachers are Duke Ellington and nature.” Toru Takemitsu
“You have to practice improvisation, let no one kid you about it!” Art Tatum
“The hippest thing you can do is not play at all. Just listen.” Lennie Tristano
“If you’re gonna make a mistake, make it so loud everybody else sounds wrong.” Joe Venuti
“This gig pays too little for me to be nervous.” Frank Wess
“Jazz is not dead, it just smells funny.” Frank Zappa
“If you can walk you can dance. If you can talk you can sing.” Zimbabwean Proverb
“We’re not on the outside looking in, we’re on the outside looking out.” John Zorn