"Jazz presumes that it would be nice if the four of us--simpatico dudes that we are--while playing this complicated song together, might somehow be free and autonomous as well. Tragically, this never quite works out. At best, we can only be free one or two at a time--while the other dudes hold onto the wire. Which is not to say that no one has tried to dispense with wires. Many have, and sometimes it works--but it doesn't feel like jazz when it does. The music simply drifts away into the stratosphere of formal dialectic, beyond our social concerns." - Dave Hickey
source: Air Guitar: Essays on Art & Democracy
Showing posts with label Freedom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Freedom. Show all posts
Bill Evans Quotes
"Freedom is to make room where there isn't any to start with. You take a music part. It seems there's no freedom in there, but if you take the time, and if you understand what's in the part, you'll find as much freedom as you want. You can also throw the part away, sit down on the piano, play with your elbows and say: `This is freedom.' Not for me. The most valuable freedom is the one which has strength, because it is won against something solid, something rigid." - Bill Evans
source: Interview with Jazz Magazine (France), 1965
source: Interview with Jazz Magazine (France), 1965
Duke Ellington Quotes
"Put it this way: Jazz is a good barometer of freedom... in its beginnings, the United States of America spawned certain ideals of freedom and independence through which, eventually, Jazz was evolved, and the music is so free that man people say it is the only unhampered, unhindered expression of complete freedom yet produced in this country." - Duke Ellington Quotes
Chuck Mangione Quotes
"I don't believe music can be free unless it has something to be free from." - Chuck Mangione
Sun Ra Quotes
"But recently I began to feel that maybe I wouldn't be able to do what I want to do and need to do with American musicians, who are imprisoned behind these bars; music's got these bars and measures you know." - Sun Ra
Wayne Shorter Quotes
"You know the actor John Garfield? In one movie he walked up to this train station, the ticket booth, and the guy says, 'Yes, where are you going?' And he says, 'I want a ticket to nowhere.' I thought: that's it. The freedom to do that. I want a ticket to nowhere." - Wayne Shorter
Wynton Marsalis Quotes
"There are forces all around you who wish to exploit division, rob you of your freedom, and tell you what to think. But young folks can rekindle the weary spirit of a slumbering nation." - Wynton Marsalis
Nina Simone Quotes
"I had spent many years pursuing excellence, because that is what classical music is all about... Now it was dedicated to freedom, and that was far more important." - Nina Simone
Buddy Rich Quotes
"But, I don't think any arranger should ever write a drum part for a drummer because if a drummer can't create his own interpretation of the chart and he plays everything that's written, he becomes mechanical; he has no freedom." - Buddy Rich
