DJ Jazzy Jeff Quotes

Don't play the saxophone. Let it play you.

I look at my clarinet sometimes and I think, I wonder what's going to come out of there tonight? You never know.

Jazz is letting everybody do his or her thing with the music.

Some people wish above all to conform to the rules, I wish only to render what I can hear. There is no theory. You have only to listen. Pleasure is the law.

I would never say I will stay in electronic music for the rest of my life. I will always do whatever I feel like at that moment.

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've always done very 'composed' music and worked-out solos. But sometimes it's fun not knowing where you're going.

I didn't really know what I was doing when I started. I just started writing songs. After two songs I just continued to explore it.

Jazz music is an intensified feeling of nonchalance.

I do read music, but I prefer playing from the heart.

It's nice just to be able to go out and, basically, be able to play other types of music and not have any pressure to almost explain it and justify why you did. I just do it because I like to have some fun.

I have fallen back in love with music, which has allowed me to get back to my roots and create sounds without borders.

The rule is to try and never play the same thing twice when you have the freedom to do that in the song.

What I love about jazz is the improvisation, the fact that you never know what's going to happen next.

Jazz is pretty much the freest thing you can be a part of. It's the closest thing I can get to flying. It's fun, interactive. In its own way, it's a sport.

My music is written with one goal in mind: to improvise. It's like explaining a great story in words, but without words, much faster than you could with words. It's like a direct line of instantaneous communication where you don't have to wait for the end.

Jazz has a lot to do with being very present. You know the structure, then you flow through it.

Improvising is writing, too - there was no music and now there's music. So that's composition. And any time you take any sort of a performance liberty, you're making a compositional choice. I don't know a serious performer who hasn't made compositional decisions, who hasn't engaged in the art of composition.

Jazz music is the power of now.

Jazz music is the power of now. There is no script. It's conversation. The emotion is given to you by musicians as they make split-second decisions to fulfill what they feel the moment requires.

Jazz is my adventure.

Many people forget that Jazz, no matter what form it takes, must come from the heart as well as the mind.

The wonderful thing about Jazz is its willingness to take chances.

You have to react to what's around you in the moment, whatever the music is. Just think of it as some place you have to enter and you need to find the key.

When it's time to make music, that's about getting lost for me. To be a control freak is not half as good as being a freak who's casually in control. You're feeling around in the dark for something that feels good.