Gregory Porter Quotes

The point of jazz is, you do something and then you go on.

I think that's what I love about jazz is that you can do what you want, and you're allowed to mess up.

A jazz musician can improvise based on his knowledge of music. He understands how things go together. For a chef, once you have that basis, that's when cuisine is truly exciting.

Jazz can be a blank canvas full of possibilities.

As long as there are musicians who have a passion for spontaneity, for creating something that's never been before, the art form of jazz will flourish.

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

What I love about jazz is the improvisation, the fact that you never know what's going to happen next.

Miles Davis is one who writes songs when he plays.

I love to play things that are out-of-the-box. It's just that I don't always get the chance to do it!

You can't plan everything - if I did a performance exactly how I rehearsed it, it would be so boring.

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

The only element of jazz that I keep is improvisation.

Maybe a part of me recognized how right the improvising spirit of jazz is. Not the sounds, but the freedom to work with musicians who work that way. It felt very natural to me, but I think there's a way to do it without it being a jazz record.

I think that people should learn about that. In most music, there's one way that you do something, and that's the only way. In jazz, it's a lot different.

I wouldn't be interested in just doing a show that's mapped out and choreographed with a set list. That would've been boring so long ago it just wouldn't be any fun.

Jazz is all about improvisation and it's about the moment in time, doing it this way now, and you'll never do it this way twice. I've studied the masters. Why would I want to play ball after the guys who sit on a bench? I want to play like Michael Jordan.

People who don't do jazz think it's black magic. But really, it's just a matter of getting used to it. It's fun to gamble. The trick is not to fall back on the things you've done before.

This band makes sure that we have whole sections of stuff that are free form so that they don't know what we are doing next, that is the fun part of playing. You are playing something that you haven't ever played before.

I ad lib. I've gotta bring my own into it.

One thing I like about jazz is that it emphasized doing things differently from what other people were doing.

I try not to do anything by formula.

I think probably with any performer, but maybe with rock music especially, the audience wants to see the singer being real, and exploring, and not doing a rehearsed routine, so I'm just constantly looking for new things to try. I'm really curious out there, and my curiosity has led me into all kinds of bizarre situations.

This is what really makes real jazz musicians: people coming out with their own voice.

So much of making movies is about discovery on the day, what you're figuring out. If you know everything going in, then it's not worth doing - it's already done.

I like to reinvent with each project, in any which way possible.