Frederic Chopin Quotes

I don't know where there can be so many pianists as in Paris, so many asses and so many virtuosi.

In the neighborhood that I grew up in - in New York on Long Island - there were a lot of musicians. For some reason, that time in history in our town in New York, everybody played. So it was all around me.

Every musical movement that is big enough has to produce some good musicians who wouldn't have had the incentive to start playing without it.

I got into music, I was in a band, I was at art school. I was quite trendy, although I'd hate to meet myself. The over-preening, the pretentiousness, the arrogance of youth! I think, 'Oh, that guy was so full of himself.'

In the early eighties, there were a lot of artists involved with the music scene. All those young artists, before their careers took off, were into music. Robert Longo used to play some guitar. He had a band for a while. Basquiat had a band. I mean, people were always trying to mix music and art - in fact, I'm guilty of it myself.

When Little Richard used to stand up and play it was just fabulous, and Liberace had the candlesticks and the rings and the gift of the gab. The piano's is the most ungainly rock' n' roll instrument of all time but those two people transcended it, as did Jerry Lee Lewis.

I think Philadelphia has been underrated over the years as a musical region.

But I think bands that rolled in with a big attitude, like they were some big deal, I just found that very strange.

A diva is someone who pretends to know who she is and looks fabulous doing it.

It's quite pretentious, really, isn't it? The notion the audience is going to be interested in you for an hour and a half. Think too much about that and anxiety takes over.

I remember times when the whole music scene was just flourishing.

It's like Liverpool. Everybody went for the music. All the young musicians seemed to gravitate to Asbury Park.

I live in a country where music has very little success, though, exclusive of those who have forsaken us, we have still admirable professors and, more particularly, composers of great solidity, knowledge, and taste.

Texas is a hotbed of insanely good bands and musicians.

I come from a town of great musicians: Washington, D.C. It's no joke, that history.

My dad was a singer. Old classic stuff like 'Brown Eyed Girl,' or 'Delilah' if he was getting really dramatic. And there was always a gig. All the men would go out and play, congregate back at our house, and I would be up with them wailing into the wee hours.

I think Baltimore is a wonderful artistic community with a lot of great musicians. It's kind of like a little secret for musicians.

There aren't many good frontmen around anymore. Where are they? I can't think of a really young band with a great front person.

If you're in a garage band, it's about being better than the band in the next-door garage. But in the folk tradition, it's more a vibe of sharing.

On my mom's side, the Jewish side of the family, I come from a family of musicians who are pianists, so I've always loved cultural expression.

Sometimes you watch comedians and feel like they're jerking off in front of you, but they want you to see how big it is.

I'm a concert pianist, that's a pretentious way of saying I'm unemployed at the moment.

There was a lot of other young players around at that time when I was coming, but there was older people like Blind Lemon, which was one of my favorites. I don't know, just seemed like everybody I heard could play better than me.

It's basically a city of songwriters and that's what gives it it's strength, that's what gives it its lasting ability. You've got people making all different kinds of music and that's what attracts me to Nashville as Music City.

Detroit's a great music town. If your interaction with it was mainly musical, I'm sure you have a good opinion of the place.