Seattle is like a global gumbo, a melting pot with all kinds of people - the rich, the poor, white people, some Chinese, Filipino, Jewish and black people - they're all here.
Interpretation
Seattle is a diverse city with a mix of different cultures and backgrounds.
In this quote, Quincy Jones highlights the rich cultural diversity of Seattle, comparing it to a 'global gumbo' to illustrate how people from various backgrounds coexist in the city. This melting pot of cultures contributes to a unique social fabric, emphasizing the importance of inclusivity and appreciation for different heritages in urban life.
In practice
During a discussion on urban diversity, this quote can illustrate the importance of cultural coexistence.
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.
And what do we love about New York City? We love that everyone's here. We are one of the most diverse cities in the world. And that diversity is racial. It's ethnic, it's linguistic, it's class.
This country isn't a melting pot. Think of this country as a stir fry. That's what this country should be. A place where people are appreciated for who they are.
To get real diversity of thought, you need to find the people who genuinely hold different views and invite them into the conversation.
You have to have more people who don't look like you in the writers room. I try to have some people who don't look like me in my writers room. I think it's important to have a group of voices, of people who can dissent.
Our workforce and our entire economy are strongest when we embrace diversity to its fullest, and that means opening doors of opportunity to everyone and recognizing that the American Dream excludes no one.
Diversity is more than just a buzzword to me. It's my life.
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