Jazz Quotes · Page 53

Whenever society gets too stifling and the rules too complex, there's some sort of musical explosion.

— Slash

My music is the spiritual expression of what I am: my faith, my knowledge, my being.

— John Coltrane

He's not a performer, he's not a composer, he's not even a musician, but Norman Granz is Mr. Jazz.

— Oscar Peterson

When you listen to someone improvise, the notes that are played are only half the story.

— Hubert Laws

I have been influenced by music. I grew up listening to blues, jazz and all.

— Redfoo

Flights are a good way to catch up on podcasts, but I'll listen to some jazz to fall asleep.

— Wyatt Cenac

Jazz musicians are so comfortable. The reason they can't do what we do is because they're so comfortable doin' what they do.

— Miles Davis

I have learned as much about writing about my people by listening to blues and jazz and spirituals as I have by…

— Ernest Gaines

I will say, too, that lovemaking, if sincere, is one of the best ideas Satan put in the apple she gave to…

— Kurt Vonnegut

Lately, my mind is like an orchestra. If you don't have the conductor, you don't know what to do. One guy is…

— Goran Ivanisevic

Jazz music celebrates life! Human life; the range of it, the absurdity of it, the ignorance of it, the greatness of it,…

— Wynton Marsalis

Hearing Marilyn Crispell play solo piano is like monitoring an active volcano. She is one of a very few pianists who rise…

— Jon Pareles

Part of what I like to do with Brainfeeder is to get the younger kids hearing jazz, because they don't know where…

— Flying Lotus

Music was not a big deal to me when I was in middle school. And then I slowly became a big jazz…

— Nick Kroll

Jazz shouldn't have any mandates. Jazz is not supposed to be something that's required to sound like jazz. For me, the word…

— Wayne Shorter

My stuff was more of a folk coffeehouse thing, with more acoustic guitar, just me doing a single, and then adding on…

— Dan Hicks

I've always explored things that people find a bit more freakish, like free jazz, and I'd gotten to a point where the…

— Kieran Hebden

Jazz is not background music. You must concentrate upon it in order to get the most of it. You must absorb most…

— Horace Silver

Do not enjoy yourself. Enjoy dances and theaters and joy-rides and champagne and oysters; enjoy jazz and cocktails and night-clubs if you…

— Anonymous

I was raised on piano and saxophone and jazz music for ten or twelve years. Before I even picked up a bass.…

— Matt Snell

The most important thing to do as an artist is to get out of your comfort zone and work with different people:…

— Katie Noonan

I read some older books when I worked at Barnes And Noble, like some of the American classics. I read a lot…

— Bert Kreischer

Why a musician loves playing jazz or classical music or what makes them happy, and why an artist likes to paint -…

— Elisabeth Moss

People with talent are not interested in showing off behind another person. They're more interested in the music. [Charlie Parker] was playing…

— Helen Merrill

I think that drummers have come a long way, but they haven't forgotten players like Gene Krupa, or the other jazz players.

— Bill Ward

One of the things I like about jazz, kid, is I don't know what's going to happen next. Do you?

— Bix Beiderbecke

I don't know if I have enough guts to do a whole standard jazz record.

— Gary Cherone

I work very hard at being the best musician I can be because I love it.

— Diana Krall

I don't believe that jazz will ever really die. It's a nice way to express yourself.

— Chet Baker

“Elevators are supposed to smell like urine. That's what make the jazz playing through the overhead speakers sound more authentic.”

— Jarod Kintz

By the time I was in my teens, I was listening to Delta blues and jazz.

— Hozier

The hardest thing for a musician to learn is how to play WITH people. That's what made the Basie rhythm section.

— Jo Jones

I listen to Neil Young and jazz and classical stations and, if my girlfriend's driving, it tends to be Hall & Oates.

— Anonymous

Blues and soul and jazz music has so much pain, so much beauty of raw emotion and passion.

— Christina Aguilera

All the folks I play with come from jazz backgrounds or at least appreciate spontaneity within the parameters of a pop song.

— Andrew Bird

I can count on one hand the number of instrumental hits there have been over the last 10 years.

— Chuck Mangione

I've never listened to jazz. It's just not something I ever paid attention to.

— Oprah Winfrey

Smokin' at the Half Note is the absolute greatest jazz-guitar album ever made. It is also the record that taught me how…

— Pat Metheny

There's an ecstatic side to writing. It's like jazz. It just has a life.

— Alice Walker

As a rule, my focus is on classical music, but I love jazz. I love everything, actually.

— Julie Andrews