Thelonious Monk

The majority of juice-heads and winos and junkies arent musicians.

Don't play everything (or every time); let some things go by... What you don't play can be more important than what you do.

Just because you're not a drummer doesn't mean you don't have to keep time.

A note can be as small as a pin or as big as the world, it depends on your imagination.

Jazz is my adventure. I'm after new chords, new ways of syncopating, new figures, new runs. How to use notes differently. That's it. Just using notes differently.

Everybody in all countries tries to play jazz.

All musicians are subconsciously mathematicians.

Everyone is influenced by everybody but you bring it down home the way you feel it.

I don't have a definition of Jazz. You're just supposed to know it when you hear it.

If you really understand the meaning of be-bop, you understand the meaning of freedom.