Dr. John Quotes

I'm a rhythm player. I need to set people up, I need to be in the flow of the game.

All the time, I play with a rhythm; if I'm too far out of the rhythm, I feel out of place.

I think the drummer should sit back there and play some drums, and never mind about the tunes. Just get up there and wail behind whoever is sitting up there playing the solo. And this is what is lacking, definitely lacking in music today.

The magic of playing has to do with how much everyone wants it to succeed. If you have five players in a situation where the music is being improvised and one is determined it is not going to succeed, it won't succeed even if one of the musicians takes control.

You can always tell when the groove is working or not.

An important part of being in a band is the rhythm section.

Find someone you can jam with. That's a big deal. When you play with someone else, you gotta work together to get the thing started and in time, working and in the groove.

If there was a wrong note, it didn't matter as long as it was rocking.

I'm definitely influenced by the music. We dance to music, and you have to listen to it and phrase your dancing and movement in a certain way to compliment the music. We have to work hand in hand, the dancer and the music.

I think music naturally wants to be played with more than one person. There's a surprise element, and you don't know what it will be, and it's up to that other person's energy to help create this third thing.

The main three components are the blues, improvisation - which is some kind of element that people are trying to make it up - and swing, which means even though they're making up music, they're trying to make it up together. It feels great, like you're having a great conversation with somebody.

Rhythm is the life of space of time danced through.

The music has to drive you. That's just it. You follow it. You follow the songs.

You can work on the saxophone alone, but ultimately you must perform with others.

You gotta catch the sauce. Move with me... I'm dripping sauce.

Rhythm is God. I think, without rhythm, you can't create - there is no art.

I'm versatile, so however the beat makes me go on it, that's just what it do.

I do like playing music with other people.

We were built to be rhythmic.

The more you play, you get a better rhythm and play better.

Everybody's been blessed with something, and my gift is my timing. Let's face it, it's all about keeping time and having a groove.

One of the things I like to do is to try to jam with everybody.

I like to stay in the rhythm of things.

If you ever go to a music session, you'll notice that the musicians can sit down and start playing right away, and everyone knows what to do. Of course they're reading it, but the conductor can tweak little things, and you can take that back to directing motion pictures.

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