Sometimes you need to stand with your nose to the window and have a good look at jazz. And I’ve done that on many occasions. – J. J. Johnson
Around age 11 or 12, I started playing jazz bass. From there, I went to electric bass and then guitar, which I kept up for a long time. – Joshua Roman
The musicians in Chicago gave me my vocation, but New York calls to a jazz musician, for sure. You want to test your mettle. – Kurt Elling
Most people don’t know that Congo Square was originally a Muscogee ceremonial ground… in New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz. – Joy Harjo
They always say that jazz doesn’t sell, but it’s a lie, because it does sell, and it sells consistently year in and year out. – Lester Bowie
Gospel music rhythms are not African in origin, although I know that’s what the jazz experts say. – Mahalia Jackson
When I was nine years old, I started playing guitar, and I took classical guitar lessons and studied music theory. And played jazz for a while. And then when I was around fourteen years old, I discovered punk rock. And so I then tried to unlearn everything I had learned in classical music and jazz so I could play in punk rock bands. – Moby
Even though I left for a year, I grew here as a Jazz man. If I’m fortunate enough to go into the Hall of Fame, I will go as a Jazz man. – Karl Malone
It was the early days of Rock ‘n’ Roll in this country. We were all struggling to learn music, it might be Country, Jazz, Classical, Blues or even Rock ‘n’ Roll. – Jim Sullivan
You can start from any source material, and you can approach it with a jazz ear, and then it will become a jazz moment. – Kurt Elling
Kenny G is not real jazz. I don’t even think Wynton Marsalis is real jazz. I don’t think Harry Connick Jr. is real jazz. If there is such a thing as real jazz, The Lounge Lizards is real jazz, Henry Threadgill is real jazz, Bill Frisell is real jazz, you know? – John Lurie
I find as much inspiration from the forerunners of jazz as I do the modern-day innovators of jazz. – John Scofield
I’ve mainly been sampling jazz because the tone of the chords are expressive in itself, so it’s quite nice to write over. It’s got interpretations of a lot of different genres, too, a lot of dubby-ness and experimental stuff. – King Krule
I don’t play the traditional Charlie Parker songs. But I do improvise and I do create with my instrument, and that to me is jazz. But there are people who use the word ‘jazz’ only in a traditional sense, and they would be offended by that, and that’s fine. – Kenny G
Bernstein grew up in my building in New York. He’s a very, very fine player. When he was a kid, he came by to find out what was going on in the world of jazz. – Lee Konitz
What I see for the band by the end of this year is the Complex live at the Montreux Jazz Festival. I want my guys to be comfortable. I’m certainly not in this for the money, but I’d really like to see my guys make some money off of this stuff. – Jimmy Chamberlin
When I was 12, I was doing competitive jazz, tap and ballet in Michigan. The studio put the best dancers together, and I joined that. We always did really, really well in local competitions. – Jillian Rose Reed
I feel like Europe is way more advanced. They’re way more open to the definition of jazz. More cool. They’re like, ‘You want to do that? Awesome. You want to work with a rapper? Awesome.’ They’re not, ‘Aah, it’s not real jazz.’ – Jose James
I got my first set of drums when I was around 3. I went from band to marching band to Latin jazz band – it’s like riding a bike. – Jeremih
The genius of our country is improvisation, and jazz reflects that. It’s our great contribution to the arts. – Ken Burns
