Jewel Quotes

I'm not thinking about what needs to be on the radio. I'm not thinking about anything other than - I'm just going to let this music come out of me and not have any sort of preconceived notion of what I should do. I'm just going to do it.

The rule is to try and never play the same thing twice when you have the freedom to do that in the song.

Some people would look at a backing track as something that would confine you, but it really frees us up. It's nice not to be strapped down to a certain spot when you're trying to put on a show.

When I'm making a song, I try not to think about audience or genres. It's free-flowing. Natural.

Improvisation is the courage to move from one note to the next.

With Zeppelin, I tried to play something different every night in my solos. I'd play for 20 minutes but the longest ever was 30 minutes. It's a long time, but whenI was playing it seemed to fly by.

Jazz stands for freedom. It's supposed to be the voice of freedom: Get out there and improvise, and take chances, and don't be a perfectionist - leave that to the classical musicians.

Music is the only thing I've ever known that doesn't have any rules at all.

There's never any pressure on the music having to be something.

With human beings it could be argued that all music-making is, in essence, grounded in improvisation.

I think you have to keep a childlike quality to play music or make a record.

Any talk of 'craft' makes me laugh. My music looks outward; it does not gaze upon itself in admiration. Artisanal is for cheesemakers. I don't know anything about music theory. Every time I approach my guitar, it's like the first time. There's no craft in that.

Once we're inside a tune, we can do anything with it.

Improv is so freeing because there are no bounds; there's no safety net. You just say something and get an instant response.

I've found that as I've learned to improvise melodically, it seems like I can come up with a bigger variety of stuff. I kind of selfishly enjoy it more, because I'm in the moment so much.

When I sing, I try to make the song my own and sing it my way because, in my mind, I am not following any school of thought. I just make myself free.

I think there's all these unknown things you can tap into when you just leave things open, and nothing is forbidden. Then you allow yourself to mold that thing that has been created by freedom and spontaneity and flexibility. That's why I avoid limiting performances of actors and characters.

Sound-wise, I'm really limitless in the way I write songs. Whatever comes out, comes out. Every song is completely different.

Songs seem to always spring from improvisation.

The musicians in the band, and myself as a performer, love the risks of the unpredictable and the feeling of jumping off cliffs musically.

Jazz does what it wants to, and so does The Wu.

All of my solos were improvised initially - I would go in and get my bearings and see what I came up with.

I loved the freedom of improvised music.

There are no rules. Let the picture lead you where it must go.

It's always fun to improvise. What's weird is that when you're recording, you're by yourself, for the most part.