They all come from the street – tap, jazz and flamenco. And the streets are always changing. If it comes from the streets, change is the only thing that’s consistent. – Savion Glover
I couldn’t get my album played over the so-called smooth jazz stations. Jazz stations would not play it. You don’t always know who you’re making that soul connection with. – Roy Ayers
I’m not a folk or jazz singer, more a hard-edged pop singer – with some rock, and song hooks. – Phoebe Snow
Jazz and poetry both involve a structure that may be familiar and to some extent predictable. And then, you try to create as much surprise and spontaneity and feeling and variation while respecting that structure. – Robert Pinsky
We were the first small American jazz group since Sidney Bechet in 1927 to play for the public in Moscow and Leningrad. – Paul Horn
I think that’s what I love about jazz is that you can do what you want, and you’re allowed to mess up. – Rebecca Ferguson
The beauty of jazz is that it’s malleable. People are addressing it to suit their own personalities. – Pat Metheny
Live action writers will give you a structure, but who the hell is talking about structure? Animation is closer to jazz than some kind of classical stage structure. – Ralph Bakshi
I’m basically a cocktail jazz kind of pianist. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a very good keyboard player. People think I think I’m good. I think I’m a very poor piano player. – Ray Manzarek
Well, jazz is to me, a complete lifestyle. It’s bigger than a word. It’s a much bigger force than just something that you can say. It’s something that you have to feel. It’s something that you have to live. – Ray Brown
Eclecticism is the word. Like a jazz musician who creates his own style out of the styles around him, I play by ear. – Ralph Ellison
When I’m in the classical world, I really treat it as exactly classical and I don’t try and spruce it up or jazz it up or make it easier for the masses. – Rufus Wainwright
When I have to compete with John Coltrane and Miles Davis and Louie Armstrong on iTunes, which I’m doing now, that’s a problem. That means that jazz is not being heard by younger audiences. – Robert Glasper
If you really dissect hip-hop you will find a whole lot of Charles Mingus, Ron Carter, Ahmad Jamal, a lot of classic jazz samples in there. – Robert Glasper
I can turn on some jazz guitarist, and he won’t do a thing for me, if he’s not playing electrically. But Jeff Beck’s great to listen to. – Ritchie Blackmore
Some people try to get very philosophical and cerebral about what they’re trying to say with jazz. You don’t need any prologues, you just play. – Oscar Peterson
You not only have to know your own instrument, you must know the others and how to back them up at all times. That’s jazz. – Oscar Peterson
I don’t worry too much about the fundamentalist principles that are in almost any discussion about jazz. – Pat Metheny
When you find real jazz on the radio dial, it comes in all static-y. It’s just like tap dancers. You have to go uptown to find the real hoofers. We only come to midtown if we’re called upon. – Savion Glover