Eddie Condon Quotes

Since about 1980 Kenny Werner has been one of jazz’s unsung heroes

Jazz stands for freedom. It's supposed to be the voice of freedom: Get out there and improvise, and take chances, and don't be a perfectionist - leave that to the classical musicians.

My intentions have been, and are always, to just really get behind what my ideas are musically and to just ride this thing out, cause it feels good, and I think for the most part it's good music. Even when it's not, I'd like to still search for something that could be even like a little bit mind-blowing or shocking to me.

I can put a hip-hop beat to reggae. That is, I can have real reggae in the drums and in the rhythm, and on top of it I can put The Rolling Stones' feeling, anyone's feeling on top. Nobody has ever done this before, man.

Miles Davis was a part of my life from 1947 on. I was born in 1941 and I first heard him in 1947 on a 78 rpm. And then I followed his career, starting with his first solo album in 1951. He was an icon and inspiration and a mentor to me.

We were grooving, at that point, in the same direction, but remember, Roy Hamilton and myself were going into a path and a direction that had no programming.

Thelonious Sphere Monk: there's not a more perfect name to fit his compositions than that name.

All these other nations seem to appreciate what I'm doing and they want me to play the furthest out things.

I know what I've done for music, but don't call me a legend. Just call me Miles Davis.

I decided that I would be one of the biggest new names; and I actually had some little fancy business cards printed up to announce it, 'Count Basie. Beware, the Count is Here.'

Eclecticism is the word. Like a jazz musician who creates his own style out of the styles around him, I play by ear.

Nat King Cole was a really big influence.

Miles Davis was a master. In every phase of his career, he understood that this music was a tribute to the African muse.

Mars Volta was always about embracing what 'too much' was and the excess of it. I never thought there would be an audience for it.

Whenever I sing, I try to make it different, the sound that you've never heard before, and put something new, which people love.

Musically, I try not to box things in. I try to just play around this spectrum of influences: soul, jazz, and hip-hop.

Our first radio single, 'The Stage,' was eight-and-a-half minutes long. Unabashedly, we wanted to push the limits musically, lyrically, and instrumentation-wise.

Man, that cat [Ornette Coleman] is nuts.

I personally think Miles Davis is a lot funnier than me. And he's working more.

Kenny Burrell is the grand master of jazz guitar.

Chopin was an invalid, as you know, but his music was volcanic.

Jazz never ends... it just continues.

Jazz music just resonates with the frequency of me.

Charlie Parker stuck out in my mind.

If a jazz player is really playing, the classical player will have to respect him.