Sonny Rollins Quotes

Certainly, jazz has become more of a niche, which is surprising, because it's our music. It's the national music of America.

Everybody can dig The Beatles, but why should everybody dig us?

I believe deeply that jazz is still a very vital music that has much to say, not just to eggheads, or whatever the musical equivalent of an egghead is, but to ordinary people.

Black music is too big and too powerful not to have its own awards show.

I never minded being thought of as a pop star. People have always thought I wanted to be seen as a serious musician, but I didn't, I just wanted people to know that I was absolutely serious about pop music.

Hip-hop is all over the planet.

If you're big in Montreal, you're big in Quebec. If you're big in Toronto, you're big in Canada. But if you're big in New York, you're big in the rest of the world.

Bob Marley is one of the most recognized artists. He didn't care to be defined. People wondered, 'Is it reggae? Is it rock?' But at the end of the day they were still playing his music and that's what matters.

One of the things that's clear to me from interviews that I've read is that the more popular successful jazz musicians had audiences above and beyond the music community.

I'm always kind of surprised how much I'm associated with country music.

I'm starting to find out that a lot of people that you wouldn't think listen to me really do.

I think it's as popular as it ever has been and it continues to grow as it does all around the world.

I would not describe myself as an avid jazz fan and I am not a jazz musician myself. However, that is not to say that jazz does not play a vital and important role in my life.

I don't have a crystal ball, but I'm willing to bet one of my arms right now that as long as there's electricity, Ramones music is going to be relevant.

I always felt like the Academy was very late in acknowledging things. I've seen them do it with hip hop when it should have been acknowledged. It was already penetrating mass levels of culture and radio, and yet they wouldn't give it a proper category.

It's a mystery to me why everybody doesn't love jazz. I've never been able to figure that out.

The cultural value of 'Gossip Girl' was this interesting question. Sure, it seemed to have been a worldwide, cultural phenomenon for some time. And, yes, anywhere I go, I do get recognized. At the same time, it also lacked the kind of importance that people might anticipate.

I guess if you make quality music then it has a longevity and it will find its place.

When my first album came out, it wasn't Bollywood. The love that I received from people was everything, and it still is everything for me.

We were overwhelmed by how much the first album connected with people, but I wouldn't put us in the 'pop star' realm.

People say I'm destroying hip-hop, and I'm like, there's so much hip-hop, and it's so popular, so I don't know why I have the power to destroy it.

I don't like to hear someone put down dixieland. Those people who say there's no music but bop are just stupid; it shows how much they don't know.

So much of Jazz doesn't have an audience other than music students or musicians.

I really believed that my songs were good enough for the whole world to listen to. I had fans from America or the U.K. who would be like, 'Oh my God, I love your music'.

Hip-Hop is bigger than the government.