A good quartet is like a good conversation among friends interacting to each other's ideas.
As far as playing jazz, no other art form, other than conversation, can give the satisfaction of spontaneous interaction.
I appreciate men like Ben Webster and Coleman Hawkins very much.
I came from an era when we didn't use electronic instruments. The bass wasn't even amplified. The sound was the sound you got.
I don't make records for labels anymore. If I have something I want to do, I go in and play it for the president of a company, and if they get enthused, that's it!
I don't think there is the same kind of dedication among younger musicians that we had.
I don't write music, so I just choose what I like to play.
I heard Lester Young, and it was a special kind of trip to hear someone like Lester, who sounded so good and almost classical in a warm way. He took so much of the reed out of the sound.
I heartily endorse playing in the open air.
I just heard Bernstein do Mahler's Ninth Symphony. It's so great. I like all the classical composers.
I like to hear the brass vibrate in the sound, not the reed. I like a dark sound, which is contrary to what just about everybody else is looking for.
I like to play totally by ear, knowing the basic structure, of course.
I must have been on the old Steve Allen Show a dozen times. It's not a good medium for the music because of camera rehearsals, but I enjoyed working on Steve's show.
I never consciously tried to conceive of what my sound should be.
I never thought about being famous or having a band. I just wanted to play music.
I never tried to imitate anybody, but when you love somebody's music, you're influenced.
I played in rhumba bands, mickey mouse bands; all kinds of bands.
I practiced saxophone eight hours a day for the first two years I played.
I think it's a bit of a curse to have to play one's own compositions, especially when that particular selection might not be appropriate but it's your commitment to perform them.
I thought the Bossa Nova music was just beautiful. I didn't care if anybody thought it was commercial. Commercial can be a good word, too.
I used to go out and hear players, but after I got a reputation for giving a lot of solo space to developing young players, then people would come to me.
I was married at 19 and had a kid at 20, and then two more. I had to work a lot. But I always went to the jam sessions.
I was with Benny Goodman when I was 18. I believe his sound had an influence on me; such a good sound that he had in those days.
I'm always hearing things. It comes off the top of my head.
I'm using an old Otto Link rubber mouthpiece. I'm uncomfortable with a rubber mouthpiece. It's too big.
I've always regretted the fact that I've never formally studied and learned the mechanics of writing music.
I've listened to Duke Ellington a lot.
If you like an instrument that sings, play the saxophone. At its best it's like the human voice.
In the jazz program at Stanford, students won't be taught just from a book. They're going to play with other good musicians and will have to use their ears and memorize songs.
Interaction is what jazz music is all about.
It's a pain in the neck to have to depend on others to write things, or if I have something in mind and am barely able to tell someone what to play behind me.
Leonard Bernstein is writing a piece for me. I was playing a benefit for a children's hospital in Jerusalem, and Bernstein was performing with the Israel Philharmonic. That man is just brilliant.
Life is too full of distractions nowadays. When I was a kid we had a little Emerson radio and that was it. We were more dedicated. We didn't have a choice.
Most musicians seem to be able to follow me because I've learned enough chords to be able to play them without knowing their names.
My dark sound could be heard across a room clearer than somebody with a reedy sound. It had more projection. My sound always seemed to fill a room.
My sound comes from a combination of my musical conception. I did try to get as much of the reed out of the sound as I could.
People think I play effortlessly.
Records used to be documents, but now record companies want product.
Some engineers don't understand how to record acoustic instruments. They want everything to sound as if it's in your face.
Sometimes we mike the piano a little, and of course there's the bass amp.
The saxophone is an imperfect instrument, especially the tenor and soprano, as far as intonation goes. The challenge is to sing on an imperfect instrument that is outside of your body.
The whole thing you're taught in jazz is the spontaneity of it. That's what I really love about jazz.
There's a way to train young jazz musicians without having to go on the road. But every teacher must be a great player.
There's only a few so-called classics in jazz that I want to go back and listen to-those classic Miles dates like Kind of Blue, and Round Midnight with Philly Joe Jones.
We made records to document ourselves, not to sell a lot of records. I still feel that way. I put out a record because I think it's beautiful, not necessarily commercial.
We used to play so you had to listen to each other and mix your own thing on the spot. You had to hear everybody more than yourself. Then vocalists would need some reinforcement. That's when sound boards came in.
When you have a good band, if somebody leaves, you ask who the others would like to play with, and if our tastes agree, I go with that.
When you record, if you use two mikes properly positioned, it will sound like your two ears are in the room with the musicians.
When you work with a good composer you don't tell him what to write. If he knows your playing, he'll do what he thinks is right.
You can play a classical record in the morning and it purifies your soul. It's almost religious.
You can read all the textbooks and listen to all the records, but you have to play with musicians that are better than you.
You don't rehearse jazz to death to get the camera angles.
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