“I remember [Joe] Lovano came around to me at that time [of Monk competition]. And I had taken some lessons with Joe and I had seen Joe on the scene. He had always been so great to me, such and inspiration and so kind. One lesson that I had with Joe was just amazing. I'm just such a fan and an admirer of his on every level. He was like, "Don't worry... you're just out here. You just do what you're doing. Don't worry if it doesn't make you a household name or anything."” IfsKindInspirationRememberNamesLevelsWorryTakenFansLessonsSceneCompetitionHouseholdMonkAdmirer Author:Jon Gordon
“I wasn't expecting [the Monk competition] would necessarily do that. So I just did what I did and some good things continued to happen and some doors continued to open and that kind of led me into the different associations that I developed in my 30s and some records that I've made on ArtistShare over the last 10 years or so.” YearsKindMadeDifferentHappensLastsRecordsDoorsCompetitionGood ThingsAssociationExpectingMonk Author:Jon Gordon
“I never got discouraged for long, but we all got our butts kicked musically.” LongDiscouraged Author:Jon Gordon
“I definitely had some moments, where, "Wow, these were some hard chords" on some gig.” HardMomentsWowChordsGigs Author:Jon Gordon
“I have to say, music was always my self preservation survival technique. This sort of sacred space in my life and in my mind.” MindSelfSpaceSurvivalSacredTechniquePreservationSelf PreservationSacred Space Author:Jon Gordon
“Definitely I had a lot of times where I was really hard on myself. Really frustrated. But I never felt like I had someplace else to go. Just had to stay here and deal with this.” HardFeltDealsFrustrated Author:Jon Gordon
“I think what frustrated me more than anything else in my formative years was that I just had to work. I had to have a job. Like twenty to thirty hours a week, a lot of times in high school and college. And that was hard.” ThinkingYearsHardSchoolJobsHoursWeekCollegeHigh SchoolTwentiesThirtyFrustratedFormative Years Author:Jon Gordon
“I didn't have time to deal with practicing in a way that I would have liked to. I wish I could have just said, "I've got four to five hours every day that I'm going to go deal with music." I just didn't' have that. I missed a lot of lessons, but I think that maybe was frustrating to me in a big picture sense of, I need the time and energy to put into my instrument.” ThinkingWayNeedsSaidBigsEnergyWishHoursDealsFiveFourLessonsInstrumentsFrustratingBig PictureTime And Energy Author:Jon Gordon
“I don't know that there was a moment, like one specific moment where I was like "Ugh. Now what do I do?" I was just always like, "I'm just in here and if I have to fight with myself or ask for help or just be lost for a little while, but I'm just going to keep looking." Because music was all I had.” IfsKnowsLittlesMomentsHelpingFightingAsksLostUgh Author:Jon Gordon
“I remember Art Blakey saying to me, "Just remember, we're blessed to do what we do."” ArtRememberBlessed Author:Jon Gordon