I didn't know I was improvising, i just thought that was the way you played music ... I didn't think of a structure and what you could and couldn't do. Ornette Coleman More Quotes by Ornette Coleman More Quotes From Ornette Coleman It was when I found out I could make mistakes that I knew I was on to something. Ornette Coleman perseverancejazzmistake Jazz is the only music in which the same note can be played night after night but differently each time. Ornette Coleman musicmemorablenight Music has many uses and I think the most perfected use that music has is one of a healing quality. Ornette Coleman qualityhealingthinking For me, being an innovator doesn't mean being more intelligent, more rich, it's not a word, it's an action. Ornette Coleman intelligentactionmean I don't try to please when I play. I try to cure. Ornette Coleman curesplaytrying Whatever you do, it's over when you do it - but first you have to do it. Ornette Coleman firsts We in the Western world suffer from too many categories and classes; we've forgotten that we all still have diapers on. We've separated music from life. Ornette Coleman musicsufferingclass The idea is more important than the style you're playing in. Ornette Coleman stylemusicideas I wasn't so interested in being paid. I wanted to be heard. That's why I'm broke. Ornette Coleman brokejazzheard You don't have to worry about being a number one, number two, or number three. Numbers don't have anything to do with placement. Numbers only have something to do with repetition. Ornette Coleman worrynumberstwo You've got to realize. In the western world, regardless of what color you are, what title the music is, it's all played by the same notes. Ornette Coleman gdptitlescolor That's what I was trying to say when we were talking about sound. I think that every person, whether they play music or don't play music, has a sound - their own sound, that thing that you're talking about. Ornette Coleman playtalkingthinking I have often read critical pieces where the critic said that what the composer was trying to do didn't come off. I have wondered what the critic meant if he didn't know what the composer was trying to do. Ornette Coleman piecessaidtrying Making music is like a form of religion for me, because it soothes your heart and increases the pleasure of your brain. Most of all, it's very enjoyable to express something that you can only hear and not see, which is not bad. Ornette Coleman pleasurebrainheart I think that those elements - light and sound - are beyond democratic. They're into the creative part of life. Ornette Coleman lightcreativethinking The only thing my mother would say to me about my music - I'd say, "Mom, listen to this," and she'd say, "Junior, I know who you are." Ornette Coleman juniorsmommother Even when you write it, someone's got to play it. So if you can play it and bypass all the rest of the things, you're still doing as great as someone that has spent forty years trying to find out how to do that. I'm really pro-human beings, pro-expression of everything. Ornette Coleman expressionwritingyears Harmelody allows everybody to be an individual who does not have to imitate anybody else. Ornette Coleman individualdoe That's why I haven't been so anxious. But now, lots of people write and say, 'I want to find out what you're doing.' So I know that this book will enlighten them. Ornette Coleman writingbookpeople I'm interested in music, not in my image. If someone plays something fantastic, that I could never have thought of, it makes me happy to know it exists. Ornette Coleman jazzmusicplay
