Saxophone Quotes

• Don't play the saxophone. Let it play you.

  Charlie Parker

  Motivational, Music, Humorous

  "Words of Wisdom". Book edited by William Safire and Leonard Safir, p. 435, 1990.

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

  Stan Getz

  Play, Voice, Instruments

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

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• The saxophone is so human. Its tendency is to be rowdy, edgy, talk too loud, bump into people, say the wrong words at the wrong time, but then, you take a breath all the way from the center of the earth and blow. All that heartache is forgiven. All that love we humans carry makes a sweet, deep sound and we fly a little.

  Joy Harjo

  Sweet, Blow, People

  FaceBook post by Joy Harjo from Mar 05, 2013

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• That's the beautiful thing about the saxophone. It can peacefully coexist with just about anything - whether it's hip-hop, rap, rock music, pop, R&B or jazz, there's a place for the saxophone in all of those styles.

  Dave Koz

  Beautiful, Rap, Rocks

  Interview with Gregg Shapiro, chicago.gopride.com. January 22, 2016.

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• Making a painting is like playing the saxophone. You hit the note and it comes out.

  Julian Schnabel

  Painting, Notes

  Interview with Mark Grotjahn, www.interviewmagazine.com. November 11, 2013.

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• The worst waste of breath, next to playing a saxophone, is advising a son

  Kin Hubbard

  Son, Waste, Next

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• The potential for the saxophone is unlimited.

  Steve Lacy

  Unlimited

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• I wanted to play saxophone, but all I could get were a few squeaks.

  Stevie Ray Vaughan

  Play, Wanted

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• Saxophone is one thing, and music is another.

  Steve Lacy

  Music Is, One Thing

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• The saxophone was created to mimic the human voice and I think that's why I gravitated toward the saxophone eventually. I'd loved the clarinet, but there's something about the saxophone that just grabs you.

  Matana Roberts

  Thinking, Voice, Clarinet

  Source: thequietus.com

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• 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

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

  Steve Lacy

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• The saxophone is the embodied spirit of beer.

  Arnold Bennett

  Beer, Spirit

  Quoted in Derek Watson Music Quotations (1991).

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• I don't know why, but I like the saxophone.

  Matt Dillon

  Knows

  "New Again: Matt Dillon". Interview with Andy Warhol, Maura Moynihan and Genevieve Glass, www.interviewmagazine.com. July 16, 2013.

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• 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.

  Steve Lacy

  Play, Interesting, Risk

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• 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, Jazz

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• I started realizing that music is the one area where I've always let go. When that saxophone goes into my mouth, I get into a space where I never think about the notes I've already played or anticipate the notes ahead.

  Kenny G

  Letting Go, Thinking, Space

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

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• Drum on your drums, batter on your banjos, sob on the long cool winding saxophones. Go to it, O jazzmen.

  Carl Sandburg

  Long, Banjos

  Carl Sandburg, “Jazz Fantasia”

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• As a horn player, the greatest compliment one can get is when a person comes to you and says, 'I heard this saxophone on the radio the other day and I knew it was you. I don't know the song, but I know it was you on sax.'

  Clarence Clemons

  Song, Player, Horny

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• I wanted an electric train for Christmas but I got the saxophone instead.

  Clarence Clemons

  Christmas, Electric, Wanted

  "5 Steps to Make Yourself Miserable for the Holidays" by Matthew B. James, www.huffingtonpost.com. December 5, 2014.

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• I practice my saxophone three hours a day. I'm not saying I'm particularly special, but if you do something three hours a day for forty years, you get pretty good at it.

  Kenny G

  Inspirational, Music, Years

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• There's so much music out there & so many possibilities. I like anyone who plays any instrument.

  Bill Frisell

  Music, Play, Jazz

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• 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

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• So I'm looking to the saxophone as a resource which has its own unique set of possibilities. I'm looking to exploit them and develop them and have the fullest range of possibilities of the saxophone be known.

  Evan Parker

  Unique, Possibility, Range

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• I get stoned, I can't get home, I'm calling long distance on a public saxophone. My head is achin', my back is breakin', feel I got run over by Captain Coconut and his dog named Rover.

  Jimi Hendrix

  Running, Dog, Distance

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