JAM Magazine: August/September 1998 Issue: Coda

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY
"Something has to die before it is reborn, and jazz has never gone away, never fallen out of favor. Anything as wonderful, knowledgeable and profound as jazz will always be here." -- James Moody

"Jazz is gonna be around forever. All that other bullshit is here today and gone tomorrow." -- Jimmy Smith

"On one day each month, every jazz player should get down on his knees and thank God for Duke Ellington." -- Miles Davis

"If it sounds good, it is good." -- Duke Ellington

"I heard (Miles Davis) often say that music is space, also. Don't try and fill up every single space when you are playing. ...I've heard young guys who haven't learned this lesson yet. They play so many notes and leave no space in the music. It becomes monotonous and boring. Music is space as well as notes, so you have to allow for that." -- Horace Silver (L.A. Jazz Scene, July 1998)

"Some guys play like they're getting paid by the note." -- Frank Morgan

"During the years I was with Andy Kirk we starved almost. I remember not eating for practically a month several times. But we were very, very happy because the music was so interesting, and you forgot to eat, anyway." -- Mary Lou Williams

"I came up in Kansas City when the joints were running full blast from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Usual pay was $1.25 a night, although somebody special, like Count Basie, could command $1.50." -- Charlie Parker

"Kansas City is a happy town, but it's a cracker town." -- Count Basie

"When Lester plays, he almost seems to be singing; one can almost hear the words." -- Billie Holiday on Lester Young

"The trouble with most musicians today is that they are copycats. Of course you have to start out playing like someone else. You have a model, or a teacher, and you learn all that he can show you. But then you start playing for yourself. Show them that you're an individual. And I can count those who are doing that today on the fingers of one hand. -- Lester Young

"...There's too much (re-creation) going on in jazz nowadays. There's too much re-creation of things that we've heard before but without the creative energy that happened when that music was being invented." -- trumpeter Claudio Roditi (Down Beat, July 1996)

"Her voice sounded like an eagle being goosed." -- Ralph Novak on Yoko Ono

"Her singing reminds me of a cart coming downhill with the brake on." -- Sir Thomas Beecham

To a critic who'd written an unfavorable review: "I am sitting in the smallest room in my house. I have your review before me, soon it will be behind me." -- Ludwig van Beethoven

"I take more chances now that I've gotten older and don't worry about approval. When I was younger I had a tendency to play it safe. Now as I get older, it's like 'I don't care. If you don't like what I'm doing it's OK, but I'm going to do it anyway.' It's fun to try and reach for something and not know whether you're going to make it... For a long time I wouldn't do things like that. Now I can do it and it's OK. I have fun now. I'm more open about it now. I enjoy life much more now." -- Kenny Barron

"You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer." -- Frank Zappa

"Just about the time you learn to play the C scale, it's time to play taps." -- John McKee

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© Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors 1996-2001. All rights reserved.






	Search our site:		(More) THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY "Something has to die before it is reborn, and jazz has never gone away, never fallen out of favor. Anything as wonderful, knowledgeable and profound as jazz will always be here." -- James Moody "Jazz is gonna be around forever. All that other bullshit is here today and gone tomorrow." -- Jimmy Smith "On one day each month, every jazz player should get down on his knees and thank God for Duke Ellington." -- Miles Davis "If it sounds good, it is good." -- Duke Ellington "I heard (Miles Davis) often say that music is space, also. Don't try and fill up every single space when you are playing. ...I've heard young guys who haven't learned this lesson yet. They play so many notes and leave no space in the music. It becomes monotonous and boring. Music is space as well as notes, so you have to allow for that." -- Horace Silver (L.A. Jazz Scene, July 1998) "Some guys play like they're getting paid by the note." -- Frank Morgan "During the years I was with Andy Kirk we starved almost. I remember not eating for practically a month several times. But we were very, very happy because the music was so interesting, and you forgot to eat, anyway." -- Mary Lou Williams "I came up in Kansas City when the joints were running full blast from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Usual pay was $1.25 a night, although somebody special, like Count Basie, could command $1.50." -- Charlie Parker "Kansas City is a happy town, but it's a cracker town." -- Count Basie "When Lester plays, he almost seems to be singing; one can almost hear the words." -- Billie Holiday on Lester Young "The trouble with most musicians today is that they are copycats. Of course you have to start out playing like someone else. You have a model, or a teacher, and you learn all that he can show you. But then you start playing for yourself. Show them that you're an individual. And I can count those who are doing that today on the fingers of one hand. -- Lester Young "...There's too much (re-creation) going on in jazz nowadays. There's too much re-creation of things that we've heard before but without the creative energy that happened when that music was being invented." -- trumpeter Claudio Roditi (Down Beat, July 1996) "Her voice sounded like an eagle being goosed." -- Ralph Novak on Yoko Ono "Her singing reminds me of a cart coming downhill with the brake on." -- Sir Thomas Beecham To a critic who'd written an unfavorable review: "I am sitting in the smallest room in my house. I have your review before me, soon it will be behind me." -- Ludwig van Beethoven "I take more chances now that I've gotten older and don't worry about approval. When I was younger I had a tendency to play it safe. Now as I get older, it's like 'I don't care. If you don't like what I'm doing it's OK, but I'm going to do it anyway.' It's fun to try and reach for something and not know whether you're going to make it... For a long time I wouldn't do things like that. Now I can do it and it's OK. I have fun now. I'm more open about it now. I enjoy life much more now." -- Kenny Barron "You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer." -- Frank Zappa "Just about the time you learn to play the C scale, it's time to play taps." -- John McKee RETURN TO AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 1998 MAIN INDEX ------------------------------------------------------------------------ © Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors 1996-2001. All rights reserved.