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Musician Quotes

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Musician Quotes

“When I came to New York, to Brooklyn, I met Alvin Ailey and Stanley Crouch and August Wilson. They were always putting things in a philosophical context. All the great jazz musicians did, too. There was always a sub-context to what they were saying about music even though they would be very down home and earthy. So I started to develop, in addition to my power and ability to simply hear, a way to place myself in a time.”

“I certainly know guys in comedy, I know some actors, and I definitely know some musicians, who have survived to a certain age and make a good living doing what they do, but nobody knows who they are. They wake up every day and they have the ability to get paid practicing their art, but underneath it all, if you scratched the surface, you still get, "If I only had my own show . . .," or "If I only had my own band . . ." It's what people always do when they want to be their own star.”

“Business today is all about improvisation, which is the essence of jazz. Perhaps in the past we could just follow the operating manual and do what we were told, but today the world is too complex and fast. Today it's all about real-time innovation and creativity. Individuals may get hired based on their resumes, but they'll get promoted and reach their dreams based on their ability to create. In that context, being a jazz musician was the best MBA I could have ever received.”

“On tour things go wrong all the time, I mean that's live music, that's what it's all about. I think one of the things I'm learning is that when stuff goes wrong, really brilliant musicians have the ability to turn this into something interesting and unique. I think good people in any sphere of anything know how to deal with problems, how to take it in your stride. We are learning this by touring, by being put in these positions when we need to focus and deal with it.”

“The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.”