Steve Lacy Quotes

Jazz is people's music, a collectivity.

It's very important to go through periods where you sound just rotten and you know it, and you have to persevere or give up.

It starts with a single sound. If there's something in that sound, then it's worth continuing.

If you're trying to invent something new, you're going to reach a lot of discouraging points, and most people give up.

If you listen to Louis Armstrong from 1929, you will never hear anything better than that really, and you will never hear anything more free than that.

If you have music you want to play that no one asks you to play, you have to go out and find where you can play it. It's called do or die.

I've performed solo for 20 years now, but I don't do much of it, because if you only play alone, you go crazy and out of tune and play foolish music.

I've been working on the soprano saxophone for 40 years, and the possibilities are astounding. It's up to you, the only limit is the imagination.

I've always been extremely lucky in playing with great people who knew much more than I did. That's how I got from there to here.

I was spoiled by Monk's music because it was so good, so complete.

I wanted to be a pianist but it just wasn't my thing. I guess I wanted to stand up rather than sit down.

I still love the whole history of jazz. The old things sound better than ever.

I started in New Orleans music and played all through the history of jazz.

I heard Sidney Bechet play a Duke Ellington piece and fell in love with the soprano saxophone.

I fell in love with jazz when I was 12 years old from listening to Duke Ellington and hearing a lot of jazz in New York on the radio.

Circumstances can be very important. Find the right people to work with.

Before the work comes to you, you have to invent work.

Bamboo is not a weed, it's a flowering plant. Bamboo is a magnificent plant.

You can work on the saxophone alone, but ultimately you must perform with others.

The potential for the saxophone is unlimited.

Play difficult and interesting things. If you play boring things, you risk losing your appetite. Saxophone can be tedious with too much of the same.

When I came up, it was all about originality and collective research. There is an awful lot of imitation going on now.

Risk is at the heart of jazz. Every note we play is a risk.

Jazz is like wine. When it is new, it is only for the experts, but when it gets older, everybody wants it.

I think it is in collaboration that the nature of art is revealed.