Nigel Kennedy Quotes

People are always defining and re-defining music. My style of playing has been characterized as smooth jazz and acid jazz. I listen as I play; I'm not caught up in defining the type of music I play.

You know, if Kelly Clarkson wants to do country albums because that's what inspires her, then let her do it. Look at Kanye West or Ludacris... they aren't rappin' and cussin' like they were on their first few albums, so what does that make them? It's all in the eye of the beholder and the listener. We all use our outlet to grow ourself.

It's better for the listener to interpret their own meanings to the music.

My music is like my freedom space.

To me, a song is new every time I sing it.

Music is one whole force. And I think the Proms have always represented very clearly that music is a universal language, one that everyone can speak. I've just followed my goosebumps in every direction and have found a recipe for what my music feels and sounds like.

Jazz is neither specific repertoire, nor academic exercise... but a way of life.

When I perform, I like to immerse myself in the music, and I just try to get off on the diversity of music.

The music I turn out these days is the kind of music I want to hear myself.

It pulled me like a magnet, jazz did, because it was a way that I could express myself.

Don't worry about what others say about your music. Pursue whatever you are hearing... but if everybody really hates your music maybe you could try some different approaches.

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

I found a certain kind of music congenial to me; it never occurred to me to write music that was academically acceptable.

I've always tried to stay clear of being labeled, putting a label on what type of music that I make.

The way that I've always gone about making music, the rule of thumb, has just been to make what I love.

Music is music; you don't have to put a label on it.

I love acting, but music is so much more rewarding because it's more personal.

I've accepted the fact that Limp Bizkit is my band, one that I'm a part of, a band that I've built from the beginning. It does me no good to be in somebody else's band playing their music, like Marilyn Manson or Korn. Being in Limp Bizkit allows me to be myself.

I make the kind of music I like.

As a stand up, and often in acting, there is no place for the most intense feelings. Rage, genuine sorrow, naked hope... These things don't fit on a comedy stage and if you act you'll get to express them once in a while. Music is a place for the intensely personal.

We play melodic music, we play songs, we play all kinds of things and when you improvise you don't just shut out different languages, you use all the languages that you have.

I like to say, 'I hit every type of music in a show, and I play the people, not the instruments.'

I love to improvise when it's appropriate and encouraged by a producer.

There's art in rhythm playing. Just find it. Make your own art. Find your place, and when it's your time to solo, it's your time to shine.

I picked Dad's guitar up when I was 8. It hurt to play, so I put it down and picked it back up when I was 15 and dug in. The guitar helped me come out of my shell and kind of gave me an identity at school.