Legatoboy Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Quotes: MUSIC / MUSICIANS ------------------------------------------------------------- I got this from a music critic who writes for a few of the local papers here on LI who is actually a closet drummer and swing/bigband drumming impresario, some of the quotes are pretty good! lb -------------------------------------------------------------- "One of the perks of being an unemployed musician is that you get to play much less bad music." Jack Daney ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Jazz is too good for America." Dizzy Gillespie "After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." Aldous Huxley "Music is, by its very nature, essentially powerless to express anything at all. Music expresses itself." Igor Stravinsky "Hell is full of musical amateurs." George Bernard Shaw "The drummer drives. Everybody else rides!" Panama Francis Dizzy Gillespie on playing the trumpet: "Some days you get up and put the horn to your chops and it sounds pretty good and you win. Some days you try and nothing works and the horn wins. This goes on and on and then you die and the horn wins." "Music is my mistress, and she plays second fiddle to no one." Duke Ellington "Rather than simply say, I play jazz, I say I play music." Kenny Garrett "Jazz is the only music in which the same note can be played night after night but differently each time." Ornette Coleman Shelly Manne's definition of jazz musicians: "We never play anything the same way once." Al Cohn's definition of a gentleman: "Someone who knows how to play the accordion, and doesn't." "Music is a very hard instrument." Vido Musso "The only tune they play in 4/4 is 'Take Five!'" (unknown-talking about the Don Ellis band) "If I could play like Wynton (Marsalis), I wouldn't play like Wynton. Chet Baker "I'm too old to pimp, and too young to die, so I'm just gon' keep playin'. Clark Terry "A great teacher is one who realizes that he himself is also a student and whose goal is not dictate the answers, but to stimulate his students creativity enough so that they go out and find the answers themselves." Herbie Hancock "Jazz is freedom. Now, you think about that." Thelonious Monk "To be a musician is a curse. To NOT be one is even worse. Jack Daney "Don't bother to look, I've composed all this already." Gustav Mahler, to Bruno Walter who had stopped to admire mountain scenery in rural Austria. "I would rather play Chiquita Banana and have my swimming pool than play Bach and starve." Xavier Cugat "[Musicians] talk of nothing but money and jobs. Give me businessmen every time. They really are interested in music and art." Jean Sibelius, explaining why he rarely invited musicians to his home. "Only become a musician if there is absolutely no other way you can make a living." Kirke Mecham, on his life as a composer "I am not handsome, but when women hear me play, they come crawling to my feet." Niccoló Paganini "Of course I'm ambitious. What's wrong with that? Otherwise you sleep all day." Ringo Starr "What is the voice of song, when the world lacks the ear of taste?" Nathaniel Hawthorne "Flint must be an extremely wealthy town: I see that each of you bought two or three seats." Victor Borge, playing to a half-filled house in Flint, Michigan. "If one hears bad music it is one's duty to drown it by one's conversa tion." Oscar Wilde "Critics can't even make music by rubbing their back legs together." Mel Brooks "Life can't be all bad when for ten dollars you can buy all the Beethoven sonatas and listen to them for ten years." William F. Buckley, Jr. "You can't possibly hear the last movement of Beethoven's Seventh and go slow." Oscar Levant, explaining his way out of a speeding ticket. "Wagner's music is better than it sounds." Mark Twain "Berlioz says nothing in his music, but he says it magnificently." James Gibbons Hunekar "If a young man at the age of twenty-three can write a symphony like that, in five years he will be ready to commit murder." Walter Damrosch on Aaron Copland _______________________________________________________ "There are still so many beautiful things to be said in C major." Sergei Prokofiev ________________________________________________________ "I never use a score when conducting my orchestra. Does a lion tamer enter a cage with a book on how to tame a lion?" Dimitri Mitropolous "God tells me how the music should sound, but you stand in the way." Arturo Toscanini to a trumpet player "Already too loud!" Bruno Walter at his first rehearsal with an American orchestra, on seeing the players reaching for their instruments. "I really don't know whether any place contains more pianists than Paris, or whether you can find more asses and virtuosos anywhere." Frederic Chopin "When she started to play, Steinway himself came down personally and rubbed his name off the piano." Bob Hope, on comedienne Phyllis Diller "Never look at the trombones, it only encourages them." Richard Strauss "In opera, there is always too much singing." Claude Debussy "Oh how wonderful, really wonderful opera would be if there were no singers!" Gioacchino Rossini "I think popular music in this country is one of the few things in the twentieth century that has made giant strides in reverse." Bing Crosby "A ponderous orchestral absurdity." Frank Zappa on his rock symphony debuted by the Los Angeles Philharmonic "The bottom line of any country is, what did we contribute to the world? We contributed Louis Armstrong." Tony Bennett ------------------------------------------------------------------- CP-50, YC 73, FP-80, PX5-S, NE-5d61, Kurzweil SP6, XK-3, CX-3, Hammond XK-3, Yamaha YUX Upright, '66 B3/Leslie 145/122 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musicale Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 I like it. You're never more than a half step away from the right note. Bird Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonysounds Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Heres a few more quotes by musicians.probably about music. Not necessarily stoned.but beautiful. Jimi Hendrix The meek shall inherit nothing. Frank Zappa You cant always get what you want.Mick Jagger/Keith Richards Its such a fine line between stupid and clever.David St. Hubbins Hitting "Play" does NOT constitute live performance. -Me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamF Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 I'll only add one. 'You've got to find a way of saying it without saying it.' -Duke Ellington Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legatoboy Posted January 13, 2009 Author Share Posted January 13, 2009 Tony, Man I really like this one! Not necessarily stoned, but beautiful! Jimi Hendrix CP-50, YC 73, FP-80, PX5-S, NE-5d61, Kurzweil SP6, XK-3, CX-3, Hammond XK-3, Yamaha YUX Upright, '66 B3/Leslie 145/122 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kanker. Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 They're not particular about whether you're playing a flatted fifth or a ruptured 129th as long as they can dance to it. Dizzy Gillespie Truer words were never spoken... A ROMpler is just a polyphonic turntable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acidolem Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 "The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench; a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side" -- H. S. Thompson "The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench; a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. ............ There's also a negative side" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jode Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 A few from guys that you haven't heard of: Music doesn't really mean anything. No composer ever said, "Oh, my girlfriend left me, so I'm going to modulate to the relative minor." -- Dr. Frederic Goossen Tell us who you are in thirty-two bars. -- Joe Evans We made men's music, not boys' noise. -= James Carter Pregnancy has a way of f*&king up a good rock band. -- Larry Blewitt And from some names that may mean something to you: When I heard the Dave Clark Five, I said, "F%$k the piano! I don't wanna sit down - I wanna jump around and be crazy! -- Eddie Van Halen Forget that bebop shit. Turn it up and play that screaming shit. All the other instruments only wish they could do that. -- Jaco Pastorius If every school would hire two more music teachers, we could hire two fewer police officers. -- Kurt Masur "I had to have something, and it wasn't there. I couldn't go down the street and buy it, so I built it." Les Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Lainhart Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Competitions are for horses, not artists. - Béla Bartok Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not truth. Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love. Love is not music. Music is the best. - Frank Zappa We need not destroy the past. It is gone. - John Cage Men profess to be lovers of music, but for the most part they give no evidence in their opinions and lives that they have heard it. - Henry David Thoreau There are more love songs than anything else. If songs could make you do something wed all love one another. - Frank Zappa Music is the space between the notes. - Claude Debussy When I was young, I was told: Youll see, when youre fifty. I am fifty and I havent seen a thing. - Erik Satie I dont care much about music. What I like is sounds. - Dizzy Gillespie Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and cannot remain silent. - Victor Hugo Dont play whats there, play whats not there. - Miles Davis Some people wish above all to conform to the rules, I wish only to render what I can hear. There is no theory. You have only to listen. Pleasure is the law. - Claude Debussy Richard Lainhart http://www.otownmedia.com http://www.downloadplatform.com/richard_lainhart http://www.vimeo.com/rlainhart http://www.youtube.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sachimay Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 "If you're not offending your audience, your not doing your job" Paul Bley "I didn't choose music, music chose me" Leonard Bernstein www.dandechellis.com "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources." A. Einstein Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrokeys Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 "To be an original rock organist, never own a B3 and never play a Jimmy Smith lick" attributed to Garth Hudson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Aiken Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Music is the cup that holds the wine of silence. -Heard it from Robert Fripp, but I think it is an old Sufi saying Moog The One, VV 64 EP, Wurlies 200A 140 7300, Forte 7, Mojo 61, OB-6, Prophet 6, Polaris, Hammond A100, Farfisa VIP, ,Young Chang 6', Voyager, E7 Clav, Midiboard, Linnstrument, Seaboard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jode Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Not necessarily a one-liner, but here's a music story that has a great punchline, courtesy of Miles. When John Coltrane first joined Miles' quintet, he was just working out what would later be called "sheets of sound," playing his trademark long, exploratory solos. Miles asked him why his solos were so long. Trane replied, "Man, I don't know - I just get into an idea, and it leads to another one, and I just can't figure out how to get out of it. Miles grumbled, "Why don't you just take the f%$kin' horn out of your mouth?" Some more: The drummer's main function is to exert enough energy on the rest of the band to force them to play over their heads. -- Buddy Rich There are only two kinds of music: good music and bad music. -- Duke Ellington Anybody can be a bandleader, but the bass player is always the boss. -- Anonymous "I had to have something, and it wasn't there. I couldn't go down the street and buy it, so I built it." Les Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ITGITC Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Great thread! Here's one from my friend, George. He came up with this during our first MIDI music project years ago when things didn't go exactly as planned: "Izzit plugged in?" "Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent." - Victor Hugo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
latchmo Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 "I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to." - Elvis Presley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonglow Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Luther Perkins, long-time guitar player for Johnny Cash was once asked why he played such simplistic parts, often just using one or two notes. He replied something like, "I hear all these guitar players playing a million notes per minute. They are trying to find the right notes...... I've found them." "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Nathan Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 When you're a kid they tell you "Practice makes perfect......practice makes perfect". Then you grow up and they tell you "Well,........nobody's perfect" With a tip of the hat to Stephen Wright Don't rush me. I'm playing as slowly as I can! http://www.stevenathanmusic.com/stevenathanmusic.com/HOME.html https://apple.co/2EGpYXK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Nathan Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Oh yeah, and my favorite from Dave Hungate. "The most important quality for a session musician is sincerity. Once you learn to fake that, the rest is easy." Don't rush me. I'm playing as slowly as I can! http://www.stevenathanmusic.com/stevenathanmusic.com/HOME.html https://apple.co/2EGpYXK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Still Learning Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Oh yeah, and my favorite from Dave Hungate. "The most important quality for a session musician is sincerity. Once you learn to fake that, the rest is easy." I hadn't heard that one, that is priceless, best laugh of the day, thanks Steve.... When most people go to work, they work. When musicians go to work, they play. Which do you prefer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jode Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Luther Perkins, long-time guitar player for Johnny Cash was once asked why he played such simplistic parts, often just using one or two notes. He replied something like, "I hear all these guitar players playing a million notes per minute. They are trying to find the right notes...... I've found them." Reminds me of a good one by Jack Bruce: "Every composer's only got about three good ideas. I don't care if it's me or Beethoven." "I had to have something, and it wasn't there. I couldn't go down the street and buy it, so I built it." Les Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legatoboy Posted January 15, 2009 Author Share Posted January 15, 2009 Keep them coming! Some great stuff here! CP-50, YC 73, FP-80, PX5-S, NE-5d61, Kurzweil SP6, XK-3, CX-3, Hammond XK-3, Yamaha YUX Upright, '66 B3/Leslie 145/122 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cnegrad Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Wow, love these. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Lainhart Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Derived from Groucho Marx's original version: "The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made." Oh yeah, and my favorite from Dave Hungate. "The most important quality for a session musician is sincerity. Once you learn to fake that, the rest is easy." Richard Lainhart http://www.otownmedia.com http://www.downloadplatform.com/richard_lainhart http://www.vimeo.com/rlainhart http://www.youtube.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jode Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 One of my all time favorites: "The problem with living composers is: THEY HAVE TO EAT. Mostly what they eat is brown and lumpy. There is no question that this diet has had an effect on their work." -- Frank Zappa Taken from a brilliant, ballsy speech that every musician should read entitled, "Bingo! There Goes Your Tenure." "I had to have something, and it wasn't there. I couldn't go down the street and buy it, so I built it." Les Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tucktronix Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 Jazz musicians are spontaneous composers versed in the art of theme and variations, counterpoint wizards, rhythmic voodoo doctors, melodic swans, harmonic oceans, creating what has yet to be created, constantly searching, assimilating and birthing a new music child. - George Duke Kronos 88 Platinum, Yamaha YC88, Subsequent 37, Korg CX3, Hydrasynth 49-key, Nord Electro 5D 73, QSC K8.2, Lester K Me & The Boyz Chris Beard Band Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legatoboy Posted January 16, 2009 Author Share Posted January 16, 2009 I just found this one here: Musician Quotes . . . You blows who you is! Louis Armstrong CP-50, YC 73, FP-80, PX5-S, NE-5d61, Kurzweil SP6, XK-3, CX-3, Hammond XK-3, Yamaha YUX Upright, '66 B3/Leslie 145/122 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jode Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 "Melody and harmony are like a woman, feminine. Rhythm is masculine. And as long as those two lie down together, the bed don't matter." -- Carlos Santana, before he began to SUCK. "We're not gonna leave a dry seat in the house!" -- Gerald Welker "It's tough when one of your best friends sets out to join the ranks of jazz legends who have completely f**ked up their lives." -- Peter Erskine on Jaco Pastorius "...but simple in its beauty, like a Telecaster." -- Jacob Thompson "I had to have something, and it wasn't there. I couldn't go down the street and buy it, so I built it." Les Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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