“Once I leave the studio I'm ready to do the next thing. There are records I made that I haven't heard.” Quote by Paul Smoker
“I use a lot of double-tonguing [using the tongue to control airflow]; that allows me to play as fast as if I was slurring, but with clean articulation on every note.” IfsPlayUseCleanNotesTongueTechniqueArticulation Author:Paul Smoker
“There was a time, in my early 20s, when I picked up the trumpet and said, 'I've got to change what I'm doing.' I wasn't putting enough air through the horn. The tone I wanted was bigger than what I had. I was out of control.” SaidEnoughWantedAirBiggerTechniqueToneHornsTrumpetsEarly 20s Author:Paul Smoker
“I think that my preaching style and many of my ideas and ideals about faith are based in both Pentecostal and Baptist background.” ThinkingIdeasStyleIdealsBackgroundsPreachingBaptistsPentecostal Author:T. D. Jakes
“I don't really have a career as a jazz musician. I don't really have a career as a classical musician. I don't really have a career as a college professor, and yet I did all those things and I did them well. I put out some records in the 1980's and 1990's that changed the way some trumpet players played.” WayWellsCareersRecordsPlayerChangedCollegeMusicianJazzProfessorsClassical MusicJazz MusicTrumpetsJazz MusicianClassical MusiciansCollege Professors Author:Paul Smoker
“If they [the crowd at The Apollo Theater] don't like you, they will let you know. When you didn't have any talent, they would let you know about it -- and not kindly. There'd be things like "Get off the stage!" and certain expletives we won't say here. It was a rough audience.” IfsKnowsCertainAudienceStageTalentLike YouTheaterCrowdsRoughApolloExpletives Author:Don Alias
“Mom did not want me to have anything to do with playing music. Being from a middle-class Black family in that particular era, everybody wanted you to have a profession -- a doctor, a lawyer, and so forth. So she sent me to school to study medicine.” WantWantedSchoolBlackClassGrowing UpStudyMiddleParticularMomMusic IsDoctorsMedicineProfessionLawyerErasMiddle ClassWant MePlaying MusicBlack Family Author:Don Alias
“I grew up learning this stuff on the streets of New York. My brother and I used to play in the subway for money.” PlayUsedStuffGrowing UpStreetsNew YorkBrotherGrewGrew UpMy BrotherSubway Author:Don Alias
“I grew up in New York. We were all diversified, as far as music was concerned. I grew up liking just about everything. So I tried to incorporate that into my playing, although the original school where I came from was Afro-Cuban music. But I liked all kinds of music -- I tried to bring that into everything.” KindSchoolNew YorkGrewGrew UpConcernedOriginalsAll KindsCubanAfrosCuban Music Author:Don Alias
“Then, on my way to California, I decided to stop in New York to do some research. I couldn't leave, because that's where the music was!” WayNew YorkResearchDecidedMy WayCalifornia Author:Don Alias
“We're talking about an extremely prolific poet and songwriter and lyricist. That stuff comes off the top of her head. She [Joni Mitchell] will write exactly what she lives. If she puts some money in the soda machine, she'll write about putting money in the soda machine. "Dry Cleaner from Des Moines," on the Shadows & Light album, was about sitting next to a dry cleaner from Des Moines, playing a slot machine.” IfsWritingLightPoetryNextStuffTalkingPoetSittingShadowMachinesAlbumsDrySongwritersCleanersSodaSlot MachinesLyricistsDes MoinesDry Cleaners Author:Don Alias