“My whole childhood was filled with classical music and going to concerts of the New York Philharmonic and other New York ensembles and organizations, but interestingly, I didn't become conscious of wanting to be a musician until I was about 11. I was a rather late starter.” WholeChildhoodNew YorkLateMusicianConsciousOrganizationFilledConcertsClassical MusicEnsembleStarters Author:Gunther Schuller
“There is a view that jazz is 'evil' because it comes from evil people, but actually the greatest priests on 52nd Street and on the streets of New York City were the musicians. They were doing the greatest healing work. They knew how to punch through music that would cure and make people feel good.” PeopleFeelsEvilViewsCitiesHealingStreetsNew YorkMusicianJazzFeel GoodCuresPriestsNew York CityEvil People Author:Garth Hudson
“I got to New York when I was eighteen. I was knocking around, trying to be an actor, writer, musician, whatever happened.” TryingActorsHappenedNew YorkMusicianEighteenKnocking Author:Sam Shepard
“I visited New York in '63, intending to move there, but I noticed that what I valued about jazz was being discarded. I ran into `out-to-lunch' free jazz, and the notion that groove was old-fashioned. All around the United States, I could see jazz becoming linear, a horn-player's world. It made me realize that we were not jazz musicians; we were territory musicians in love with all forms of African-American music. All of the musicians I loved were territory musicians, deeply into blues and gospel as well as jazz.” WorldWellsMadeStatesMovingFormRealizingUnitedUnited StatesPlayerNew YorkBecomingMusicianJazzNotionAfrican AmericanRanTerritoryLunchOld FashionedHornsJazz MusicLinearDiscardedGrooveJazz MusicianAmerican MusicAfrican American MusicFree Jazz Author:Joe Sample
“I am a musician, a songwriter, music fan. I live in New York City and I love my job.” JobsCitiesFansNew YorkMusicianNew York CitySongwritersMusic Fans Author:Hoodie Allen
“I could sing and play as well. I've got some brothers; one of them is the drummer in the band. They're good musicians. I play for fun. They play properly. Music in general, I grew up in a house of musicians. Everybody's life has a soundtrack, I'm sitting here talking to you but there are horns beeping outside. I know I'm in New York. That's an element in the film as well. How strong that sense can be.” KnowsWellsPlayFilmHouseStrongFunTalkingNew YorkBrotherGrewBandElementsGrew UpMusicianSittingHornsDrummerSoundtracks Author:Jonathan Rhys Meyers
“He led quite a great life, ... He was an Old Testament figure railing against the establishment - a Jewish guy from New York who became a Buddhist, a poet, a musician.” GuyFiguresNew YorkPoetMusicianBuddhistEstablishmentTestamentOld Testament Author:Tom Hayden
“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.” WayHomeWould BeAbilityNew YorkMetsMusicianPhilosophicalJazzJazz MusicBrooklynAugustWilsonStanleyJazz Musician Author:Wynton Marsalis
“I enjoyed living in New York City, I liked the premise of the show [Saturday Night Live], I liked working with a different host every week and different musicians. I always thought, "This is great. I never expected to get this in the first place, so I'm just happy being here."” FirstsDifferentShowsNightCitiesWeekNew YorkMusicianExpectedEnjoyedNew York CityHostSaturdayPremisesSaturday NightSaturday Night Live Author:Kevin Nealon
“As a journalist, I never critiqued anyone. I never review books. I've never felt qualified as a musician to say whether someone is a good musician or a bad musician. What happens with Black writers and Black artists is that if you're critiqued, for example, by a Black historian who wants to get his name on the cover of "The New York Times," and he says something, like, wacky, well, he'll get his name on the cover of "The New York Times" and he might get tenure, and your career suffers.” IfsWantWellsBookMightHappensArtistSufferingNamesFeltBlackCareersNew YorkExampleMusicianJournalistReviewsHistorianQualifiedNew York TimesTenureWacky Author:James McBride
“I have always loved jazz music and as a teen growing up in New York City and then later on as an adult have great memories of the jazz clubs that were all located on 52nd Street. I still catch as many jazz shows as I can when I am in New York. And when I perform, I have my jazz quartet by my side. Jazz musicians keep things spontaneous and very "live," which is the way I like to perform.” WayStillsI CanShowsSidesMemoriesCitiesGrowing UpGrowingStreetsNew YorkMusicianAdultsJazzClubsNew York CitySpontaneousJazz MusicJazz MusicianQuartetsGreat Memories Author:Tony Bennett
“Berlin seems like a place of healing to me though: you have both the Holocaust Memorial and Hiroshima Strasse side-by-side there. You have the whole last century libraried and you can see exactly what we did. Now there's lots of artists and musicians moving there because they can't afford the rent in London and New York, and they're having children and making it a gentle place. It seems to be a place of hope now.” ChildrenWholeSeemsLastsMovingArtistSidesHealingCenturyNew YorkMusicianLondonGentleHolocaustMemorialBerlinHaving ChildrenHiroshimaHolocaust Memorial Author:Robert Montgomery
“I go down to New York, do the project, and leave. I have no interest in participating in the rat race down there. Hip jazz fans know who I am. There's a generation of musicians in New York who know my records better than I do.” KnowsInterestRaceRecordsGenerationsFansNew YorkFameProjectsMusicianJazzWho I AmHipsRatsParticipatingRat Race Author:Paul Smoker
“She [Joni Mitchell] wanted to have that (jazz) element in her music. Of course, when she heard Jaco's [Jaco Pastorius'] music and met him, that floored her -- really grabbed her. She decided that Wayne Shorter was really conducive to her music. She would speak metaphorically about things. "I want this to sound like a taxicab driver, or a taxi in New York," or "I want this to sound like a telephone ringing." She would speak to musicians like that, and we really tuned into what she would want our music to be.” WantWantedCoursesSpeakSoundHeardNew YorkMetsElementsMusicianDecidedJazzDriversTelephonesTaxiWayne Author:Don Alias
“Recording in Nashville was absolutely essential to get the sound, the musicians, the atmosphere, the warmth... There are just cult places like that in the world, like Chicago for the blues or New York for jazz. Nothing sounds the same in Nashville as it does elsewhere. Nashville is the Mecca of country music and everyone knows it.” KnowsWorldDoeCountrySoundNew YorkEssentialsMusicianJazzAtmosphereWarmthChicagoElsewhereCultNashvilleMecca Author:Roch Voisine
“When I was growing up, I fetishised New York City. It was the land of Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, it was where Leonard Cohen wrote 'Chelsea Hotel', it was CBGBs and all the punk rock clubs. Artists and musicians lived there, and it was cheap and dangerous.” ArtistCitiesGrowing UpGrowingLandRocksDangerousNew YorkMusicianClubsHotelNew York CityPunkPunk RockVelvetReedsChelseaVelvet UndergroundCbgb Author:Moby
“I stopped drinking and realised New York still has a lot of charm, but it has become so bourgeois and affluent - and I can't really complain because I'm sort of bourgeois and affluent myself, but I like living in a place where artists and musicians and writers can actually pay the rent.” StillsI CanArtistPayNew YorkMusicianDrinkingComplainingCharmRealisedBourgeoisAffluent Author:Moby
“When I lived in New York, there wasn't as much TV or film around. I got asked to do a couple of indie films, just based on me being from The Smashing Pumpkins and A Perfect Circle. I did a couple of indie movies from Japan and one from Canada, and I thought it was an exciting, fun thing to do. I had a great time doing it, it was just that, in New York, there really wasn't as much. My studio in New York closed, so I moved out to L.A. and just started looking into composing as another thing to do, as a musician. I like it a lot. It's fun and it's a different way of thinking about music.” ThinkingWayDifferentFilmFunPerfectNew YorkTvsCoupleMusicianExcitingMovedStudiosCirclesDifferent WaysThings To DoCanadaJapanWay Of ThinkingGreat TimesComposingPumpkinFun ThingsSmashingHad A Great TimeIndie FilmsSmashing PumpkinsIndie Movie Author:James Iha
“My father was a musician, and I've always loved writing. I grew up in New York City during a time when hip hop music was surrounding you with the hip hop culture, and it felt natural. I was a really huge fan of the music.” WritingCultureFatherFeltNaturalCitiesFansNew YorkHugeGrewGrew UpMusicianHip HopHipsHopsNew York CityHip Hop Music Author:El-P