Charlie Trotter Quotes

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

I'm proud that with 'Bright Eyes' we've always experimented and tried to make a different record every time out.

Miles Davis fully embraced possibilities and delved into it. He was criticized heavily from the jazz side. He was supposed to be part of a tradition, but he didn't consider himself part of a tradition.

What makes bebop legitimate is the fact that when it was done, it was illegitimate.

The only element of jazz that I keep is improvisation.

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

I'm definitely a risk-taker with my music.

Risk is at the heart of jazz. Every note we play is a risk.

That's kind of like how jazz is sometimes. You're out there predicting the future, and no one believes you.

Miles Davis would have this lineup of all these amazing musicians and one day would just say, 'We're done.' After tons of great records and tickets sold, he said, 'Now I'm going to grow my hair out and play my horn through a wah-wah pedal.' Rather than play it safe, he went on.

If you're always playing the correct notes, there's something wrong - you're not searching; you're not reaching for anything.

When I worked with my uncle, I loved the fact that jazz music demanded that you use your own unique approach.

The beautiful thing about working with new instruments is that you sort of approach it with a fresh perspective.

Living and performing in New York has allowed me to try my weirder and more experimental things.

I'm not afraid to have a really weird idea or, you know, take a really bad guitar solo.

I want to encourage Filipino artists to be original, write your own songs and don't be afraid to go outside the box and try new things.

Jazz is an octopus. It will take whatever it can use and it will work with it.

Jazz to me is the spirit of freedom. I mean real freedom. Freedom to explore. Freedom to express. Freedom to pour out your guts.

A lot of people from my generation of music are so focused on playing things correctly or to perfection that they're stuck in that safe place.

Maybe the biggest thing that I've learned musically is that anything is possible. Things can work when maybe they don't seem like they can.

We wanted to offer something new to our audience. I hate it when bands stop taking chances.

Jazz can be a blank canvas full of possibilities.

The apparatus has to serve our improbability and improvisation. Being good and playing the songs is not enough.

What I always try to do is to respond to the song; I've always rebelled against theory.

See, there were certain rules I'd always used, and people like Trane, they would break those rules.