Lester Bowie

They always say that jazz doesn't sell, but it's a lie, because it does sell, and it sells consistently year in and…

— Lester Bowie

A chord is just the name of a sound.

— Lester Bowie

I always tell my students when you're going to be a jazz musician the first thing you've got to do is be…

— Lester Bowie

You know when I was younger I used to look at Downbeat Magazine and I figured anybody in Downbeat must be making…

— Lester Bowie

What I've been trying to do for years is to get the music played on a station other than jazz stations, you…

— Lester Bowie

We just can't go and try to turn the clock back, that's not happening anymore. You've got to figure something else out.

— Lester Bowie

They're not just interested in one sort of music any more.

— Lester Bowie

Jazz is neither specific repertoire, nor academic exercise... but a way of life.

— Lester Bowie

Music is very important. It's important as a tool for learning, it can be a tool for healing, it can be no…

— Lester Bowie

Because I believe that the future of the music lies in the Internet. It can be sold on the Internet.

— Lester Bowie

Play as well as you can all the time, and if you're truthful to your thing, you'll succeed.

— Lester Bowie

The trumpet is forceful.

— Lester Bowie

We have the freedom to either play a tempo or not to play a tempo; to play a note or not to…

— Lester Bowie

These people are interested in a wide variety of music, and that's what we're into.

— Lester Bowie

Jazz is so difficult. A lot of people think once they've learned these licks they can get up and play them for…

— Lester Bowie

I'm only involved really right now with the Art Ensemble of Chicago and the Brass Fantasy.

— Lester Bowie

Many times you never know what's going to happen. You'll play songs that you never thought you were going to play.

— Lester Bowie

You can establish a presence on the internet; you can have just as much of a presence as a major company or…

— Lester Bowie

You play ensemble things that you had no idea you were going to play two minutes before.

— Lester Bowie

It's just about really being sensitive, and trying to play a music that is about music.

— Lester Bowie

You would think that anyone on a major label would be doing something, but when you speak of major label that means…

— Lester Bowie

Jazz groups have to make a living any way.

— Lester Bowie

We're just beginning to learn the importance of music in our society.

— Lester Bowie

We expect the listener to have, like, a movie going on when they hear us. That's what it's all about for us.

— Lester Bowie

Because people really got tired, too, of the same old formatted sort of thing, and the same old formatted music.

— Lester Bowie