“You got to cultivate that rhythm, man.” – Miles Davis, interview by Don diMichael, 1969 [h/t to thenuge @ DFO]
Category: very occasional quote of the day
Very occasional quote of the day: competition
“Music isn’t about competition, but about cooperation, doing s*t together and fitting in.” —Miles Davis
Very occasional quote of the day: simpler ways of playing
“You have to see the truth in the simpler ways of playing. That was a real challenge to me. I realized that technique doesn’t mean a s* if you can’t play a back beat in […]
Carl Friedberg on touch and technique on the piano
More from Piano Mastery by Harriette Brower— some words on sound and technique at the piano from Carl Friedberg (1872-1955). He was the principal piano instructor at Juilliard in the mid 20th century— Nina Simone […]
Josef Hofmann on piano artistry
Some quotes from the pianist Josef Hofmann from Piano Mastery by Harriette Brower. Published in the 1920s, it’s the type of thing you’d have to go to the library and dig around in the stacks […]
Very occasional quote of the day: rich and famous
R. Crumb and son Jesse, in the movie Crumb: Jesse: You didn’t go to art school and you’re rich and famous. R.: I’m not talking about rich and famous, I’m talking about learning how to […]
BIG Joe Zawinul interview
“If you have too much respect, it can get in the way…” Oh my God, you have to go Dave Aldridge’s blog right now and read his 1993 Modern Drummer interview with Joe Zawinul. He […]
Very occasional quote of the day: a voice of their own
“There’s nobody who has a voice of his own that’s a fraidy cat.” – Lester Bowie, 1984 Downbeat Blindfold Test, posted on Twitter by @jazyjef
Kenny Clarke and Max Roach
It’s interesting that history doesn’t really move in a linear way, even when you have adjacent history-making players living in the same city at the same time, playing with the same people: “Kenny’s influence was that […]
Very occasional quote of the day: practicing in time
“Through the years I had always practiced from slow to fast, but then I found out that that’s the worst possible thing any drummer can do for his time. If you practice like that, you […]