Keith Jarrett Quotes

30 quotes in 374 categories

• When I joined the band I didn't know any of the tunes, and when I left the band I didn't know any of the tunes!
• ... The 'cleverness' syndrome has taken the place of melody. It's like everyone has come down with this terrible disease in jazz....you are always expected…
• I'm not talking ideas, or even presentation. It's like in politics: You have to sell something to become an electric player - like your skin…
• When you're up against an electric band like that, it's like you're on two separate planets.
• Once we're inside a tune, we can do anything with it.
• Ideally, I'd like to be the eternal novice, for then only the surprises would be endless.
• Creativity is what makes humanity move. We were created to participate.
• I actually get a metallic taste in my mouth when I think about electric music.
• I'm my own most merciless critic onstage.
• Music always turns into music. As soon as I play a key, push a key down, there's no theory any more. When I go and…
• I've never heard anything Wynton [Marsalis] played sound like it meant anything at all. Wynton has no voice and no presence. His music sounds like…
• If you already have a piece of music ingrained in your body, why would you not play it?
• Musicians are always gigging and never have a chance to stop for a minute.
• I am a romantic, I admit it.
• I grew up with the piano. I learned its language as I learned to speak.
• If I'm not a jazz player all the time, I've at least been cued in to what I do by jazz.
• One thing you learn: if you want to reveal yourself, you also have to know where to stop.
• The way I think about the practicing, it is my undercover work.
• When you're on stage you have a very strange knowledge of what the audience is. It isn't exactly a sound - it's a hum, like…
• Your own music comes out of your head and emotions, but it's not etched in your system.

Browse Keith Jarrett Quotes by Category