Bill Dixon Quotes

• Fear is the biggest motivator.

  Bill Dixon

  45 Copy quote

• Whatever I do, I attempt to do it fully. I try, and don't always succeed, to be thorough. There are musicians who do not know their worth, and if they knew it at one time, it has eluded them. I know my worth. You try not to dwell in the past.

  Bill Dixon

  Past, Trying, Musician

  6 Copy quote

• If you are you, 24 hours a day, then you do not have to remember who you are supposed to be in different situations - something that I imagine could be troublesome.

  Bill Dixon

  Different, Remember Who You Are, Imagine

  12 Copy quote

• Most of my recorded material has been in small group configurations. I have not released large orchestral works as recordings because it hasn't been within the realm of possibility.

  Bill Dixon

  Groups, Possibility, Realms

  5 Copy quote

• Rock musicians, and a vast array of popular-music musicians, due to their wealth, acquired through the mass of their notoriety, are able to be listened to and heard and thus are able to effect change on an international level.

  Bill Dixon

  Change, Rocks, Musician

  7 Copy quote

• I do not, as a rule, do encores. When I have finished playing, I have indeed finished playing. I have nothing left; there has been no reserve.

  Bill Dixon

  Encores, Has Beens, Left

  4 Copy quote

• While everyone has a right to his or her opinion, the people who are informed have more of a right.

  Bill Dixon

  People, Opinion

  7 Copy quote

• I think people who sample are cheating. It is like people who do collages. Use all of your own stuff.

  Bill Dixon

  Cheating, Thinking, People

  8 Copy quote

• My career has been different from most people, but I knew what I was not going to do. I knew I was not going to be controlled. I knew there was a price for this, but I did not know there was as large a price as it turned out to be.

  Bill Dixon

  Careers, People, Different

  4 Copy quote

• If I had money, I would like to get an old building, have music performances, do lithographs, have shows of paintings, and do those things that I'm interested in doing.

  Bill Dixon

  Old Buildings, Painting, Shows

  6 Copy quote

• I have been using delay and reverberation since the middle 1960s. I use them to make what is almost inaudible to the ear, audible. I do not use them to play loudly but to make the higher harmonics heard.

  Bill Dixon

  Play, Use, Delay

  7 Copy quote

• I have been going to Italy since 1980, but I always went to do work. I did not live overseas, because I do not like running around with everything I own in a paper bag.

  Bill Dixon

  Running, Bags, Paper

  7 Copy quote

• In the middle 1940s... I heard everyone live. Painting, the theater; everything was happening. It was an exciting time when New York was the place to be.

  Bill Dixon

  New York, Painting, Middle

  8 Copy quote

• I have no distributor... it is indicative to me that there are these pockets of players and collectors all over. You should see the correspondence I get from over the world letting me know how significant they think I am. I know that wherever I go, I am well received.

  Bill Dixon

  Letting Go, Player, Thinking

  7 Copy quote

• Whether I get adequate attention or not, people here do know the work I have been doing systematically and without compromise for over 40 years. I get tired of people making excuses for guys who don't continue the art because they can't make a living.

  Bill Dixon

  Art, Tired, Years

  7 Copy quote

• If I produce it, I will stage it as a performance. A small audience will be invited; rehearsals of the sections will be done in the mornings, and those sections will be recorded in the afternoons.

  Bill Dixon

  Morning, Done, Afternoon

  4 Copy quote

• Interested listeners have only to hear the recording to find out if those guys, who go to such pains to undervalue my work, are right. All people have to do is listen to realize it is a beautiful record.

  Bill Dixon

  Beautiful, Pain, People

  4 Copy quote

• The magic of playing has to do with how much everyone wants it to succeed. If you have five players in a situation where the music is being improvised and one is determined it is not going to succeed, it won't succeed even if one of the musicians takes control.

  Bill Dixon

  Player, Magic, Musician

  4 Copy quote

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