First of all, I swore it was two people playing. When I finally admitted to myself that was one man, I gave up the piano for a month. I figured it was hopeless to practice.
Oscar PetersonRead
You not only have to know your own instrument, you must know the others and how to back them up at all times. That's jazz.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Understanding music involves knowing not just your part but also the roles of other musicians.
This quote emphasizes the importance of collaboration and mutual support in music, particularly in jazz. To truly excel, a musician must have a comprehensive understanding of their own instrument as well as the instruments of their fellow musicians, ensuring a cohesive performance where everyone contributes to the overall harmony.
Themes
JazzMusicCollaborationUnderstandingSupport
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a music class to illustrate the importance of teamwork among musicians.
More from Oscar Peterson
All quotes →Too many jazz pianists limit themselves to a personal style, a trademark, so to speak. They confine themselves to one type of playing.
Oscar PetersonRead
I don't believe that a lot of the things I hear on the air today are going to be played for as long a time as Coleman Hawkins records or Brahms concertos.
Oscar PetersonRead
It's the group sound that's important, even when you're playing a solo. You not only have to know your own instrument, you must know the others and how to back them up at all times. That's jazz.
Oscar PetersonRead
Montreal was a very active jazz center until club owners started putting in strippers instead of music. Before long, there was nothing to hear.
Oscar PetersonRead
Too many jazz pianists limit themselves to a personal style, a trademark, so to speak. They confine themselves to one type of playing. I believe in using the entire piano as a single instrument capable of expressing every possible musical idea. I have no one style. I play as I feel.
Oscar PetersonRead
Similar quotes
In other words, I wouldn't like to be an actor if I could only be real. I like to get wild, behaviorally wild, and it's crazy to think of any form where it's just one way.
Jack NicholsonRead
IN ANSWER TO THE QUESTION: WHAT SCENES ONE WOULD LIKE TO HAVE FILMED Shakespeare in the part of the King's Ghost. The beheading of Louis the Sixteenth, the drums drowning his speech on the scaffold. Herman Melville at breakfast, feeling a sardine to his cat. Poe's wedding. Lewis Carroll's picnics. The Russians leaving Alaska, delighted with the deal. Shot of a seal applauding.
Vladimir NabokovRead
I hope my recordings of my own works won't inhibit other people's performances. The brutal fact is that one doesn't always get the exact tempo one wants, although one improves with experience.
Aaron CoplandRead
In my view, it is the most important function of art and science to awaken this feeling and keep it alive in those who are capable of it.
Albert EinsteinRead
Technique does not constitute art. Nor is it a vague, fuzzy romantic quality known as ‘beauty,’ remote from the realities of everyday life. It is the depth and intensity of an artist’s experience that are the first importance in art.
Grant WoodRead
It's not the note you play that's the wrong note - it's the note you play afterwards that makes it right or wrong.
Miles DavisRead