Stan Getz Quotes

Quotes about:

• 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, Spring, Perfection

  Stan Getz (2017). “Stan Getz - Omnibook: For B-flat Instruments”, p.2, Hal Leonard Corporation

  40 Copy quote

• 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

  Music, Play, Textbooks

  44 Copy quote

• A good quartet is like a good conversation among friends interacting to each other's ideas.

  Stan Getz

  Music, Ideas, Jazz

  52 Copy quote

• Other than conversation, no other art form can give the satisfaction of spontaneous interaction like Jazz.

  Stan Getz

  Music, Art, Giving

  32 Copy quote

• There are four qualities essential to a great jazzman. they are taste, courage, individuality, and irreverence.

  Stan Getz

  Individuality, Quality, Essentials

  30 Copy quote

• If you like an instrument that sings, play the saxophone. At its best it's like the human voice.

  Stan Getz

  Play, Voice, Saxophone

  "Readers recommend: best saxophone songs" by Peter Kimpton, www.theguardian.com. October 30, 2014.

  57 Copy quote

• 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

  Music, Alphabet, Jazz

  23 Copy quote

• I cannot play a lie. I have to believe in what I play or it won't come out.

  Stan Getz

  Music, Lying, Believe

  17 Copy quote

• The value of jazz still has to be clarified. People involve themselves with its superficialities without digging for its soul.

  Stan Getz

  Music, People, Soul

  22 Copy quote

• 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

  Art, Real, Dedication

  19 Copy quote

• 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, Thinking, Hands

  15 Copy quote

• I practiced saxophone eight hours a day for the first two years I played.

  Stan Getz

  Eight, Years, Two

  16 Copy quote

• 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

  Challenges, Body, Saxophone

  33 Copy quote

• 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

  Thinking, Play, People

  12 Copy quote

• I learn something new every day.

  Stan Getz

  Jazz, Something New

  7 Copy quote

• I compulsively reach for perfection in music, often at the expense of everything else in my life.

  Stan Getz

  Music, Perfection, Jazz And Life

  Stan Getz (2017). “Stan Getz - Omnibook: For B-flat Instruments”, p.2, Hal Leonard Corporation

  7 Copy quote

• Records used to be documents, but now record companies want product.

  Stan Getz

  Records, Want, Jazz

  9 Copy quote

• 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, Play, Voice

  8 Copy quote

• 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

  Personality, Different, Alcoholics

  Source: blankonblank.org

  5 Copy quote

• I've done some dastardly things but what can I do except make amends and apologize?

  Stan Getz

  Done, Apologizing, Amends

  Source: blankonblank.org

  6 Copy quote

• Life is too full of distractions nowadays. When I was a kid we had a little Emerson radio and that was it. We were more dedicated. We didn't have a choice.

  Stan Getz

  Kids, Choices, Radio

  11 Copy quote

• I never consciously tried to conceive of what my sound should be.

  Stan Getz

  Sound, Should

  8 Copy quote

• I've always regretted the fact that I've never formally studied and learned the mechanics of writing music.

  Stan Getz

  Regret, Writing, Facts

  7 Copy quote

• Switch to piano! No. Really, if you like an instrument that sings, play the saxophone. At its best it's like the human voice. Of course, it would be best if you could actually sing with your own voice. The saxophone is an imperfect instrument, especially the tenor and soprano, as far as intonation goes. Therefore, the challenge is to sing on an imperfect instrument or 'voice' that is outside of your body. I love that challenge and have for over forty-five years. As far as playing jazz, no other art form, other than conversation, can give the satisfaction of spontaneous interaction.

  Stan Getz

  Art, Piano, Years

  5 Copy quote

• I learn something new every day - to edit, to take out all the extraneous matter and stress form, logic, and content. I try to play beautiful music.

  Stan Getz

  Beautiful, Stress, Play

  4 Copy quote

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