I compulsively reach for perfection in music, often at the expense of everything else in my life. Stan Getz More Quotes by Stan Getz More Quotes From Stan Getz A good quartet is like a good conversation among friends interacting to each other's ideas. Stan Getz jazz music ideas You can read all the textbooks and listen to all the records, but you have to play with musicians that are better than you. Stan Getz textbooks music play My life is music, and in some vague, mysterious and subconscious way, I have always been driven by a taut inner spring which has propelled me to almost compulsively reach for perfection in music, often - in fact, mostly - at the expense of everything else in my life. Stan Getz music perfection spring Other than conversation, no other art form can give the satisfaction of spontaneous interaction like Jazz. Stan Getz music giving art If you like an instrument that sings, play the saxophone. At its best it's like the human voice. Stan Getz saxophone voice play There are four qualities essential to a great jazzman. they are taste, courage, individuality, and irreverence. Stan Getz individuality quality essentials The value of jazz still has to be clarified. People involve themselves with its superficialities without digging for its soul. Stan Getz music soul people It’s like a language. You learn the alphabet, which are the scales. You learn sentences, which are the chords. And then you talk extemporaneously with the horn. It’s a wonderful thing to speak extemporaneously, which is something I’ve never gotten the hang of. But musically I love to talk just off the top of my head. And that’s what jazz music is all about. Stan Getz alphabet jazz music You know, when I'm playing, I think of myself in front of the Wailing Wall with a saxophone in my hands, and I'm davening, I'm really telling it to the Wall. Stan Getz wall hands thinking I cannot play a lie. I have to believe in what I play or it won't come out. Stan Getz music believe lying People think that I play effortlessly. I remember doing a record date with Bill Evans and afterwards he said to me, you make it sound so easy but when I get right up next to you you're working hard and making it sound easy! Stan Getz play people thinking I practiced saxophone eight hours a day for the first two years I played. Stan Getz eight two years The saxophone is actually a translation of the human voice, in my conception. All you can do is play melody. No matter how complicated it gets, it's still a melody. Stan Getz music voice play When I got this saxophone, it became a religion. There wasn't TV, there wasn't much money, and there was just a real dedication.... I never thought of it as an art. It was just work that I loved. Not just work, but work that I loved. I loved it so much, I would play it if nobody listened to it. Any jazz musician, if there's nobody around to listen, would play just for the sheer joy of improvising music. Stan Getz dedication real art You don't rehearse jazz to death to get the camera angles. Stan Getz jazz cameras music The saxophone is an imperfect instrument, especially the tenor and soprano, as far as intonation goes. The challenge is to sing on an imperfect instrument that is outside of your body. Stan Getz saxophone body challenges Records used to be documents, but now record companies want product. Stan Getz records jazz want I've always regretted the fact that I've never formally studied and learned the mechanics of writing music. Stan Getz regret writing facts I never consciously tried to conceive of what my sound should be. Stan Getz should sound I'm a recovered alcoholic. I don't do anything anymore, but those things, those things take away ... You're a different personality completely when you take those. For those who are really chemically dependent on anything, it's not you. Stan Getz alcoholics different personality
