Jazz has the power to make men forget their differences and come together... Jazz is the personification of transforming overwhelmingly negative circumstances into freedom, friendship, hope, and dignity.
Interpretation
Jazz unites people by transcending their differences, offering them freedom and hope through its expression.
Quincy Jones highlights the transformative power of jazz music, emphasizing how it has the ability to bring people together despite their differences. He suggests that through jazz, individuals can experience freedom and foster friendships, even in the face of negative circumstances, ultimately promoting dignity and hope.
In practice
In a speech about cultural events, you might say, 'As Quincy Jones said, jazz has the power to make men forget their differences and come together.'
Just blow in it and sound bad for about a year and then make it sound a little bit better, and you get a little band together, and then you get a few jobs. You take four guys that sound half bad, but if they're 25 percent each, they can give 100 percent, you know?
Music in movies is all about dissonance and consonance, tension and release.
When you produce an album, you're dealing with it theatrically. It has to have a structure, and the inner response to that is that the ear loves it.
You can study orchestration, you can study harmony and theory and everything else, but melodies come straight from God.
I got a scholarship to Seattle University and I was writing arrangements for singers and everybody. But the music course was too dry and I really wanted to get away from home.
I tell my kids and I tell proteges, always have humility when you create and grace when you succeed, because it's not about you. You are a terminal for a higher power. As soon as you accept that, you can do it forever.
Learn to play the piano, man, and then you can figure out crazy solos of your own.
I'll be the first to admit that we're the 90's version of Cheap Trick or the Knack...
Gospel goes with me wherever I go. Gospel is a constant with me.
Making a record? You've got to have the song, then you create a record. I think it's the same with a live performance. If the material is strong, you're already 90% there. I always tell young people it's all about the music, the songs. Work on the songs, work on the songs, work on the songs.
Basically, I started singing when I started talking. Music has just been my saving grace my whole life.
Technically, I'm not a guitar player, all I play is truth and emotion.
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