There's no future without the past and anybody who doesn't really understand where jazz has come from has no right to try to direct where it's going.
Cannonball AdderleyRead
A young tenor player was complaining to me that Coleman Hawkins made him nervous. Man, I told him Hawkins was supposed to make him nervous! Hawkins has been making other sax players nervous for forty years!
Interpretation
What this quote means
Great artists should inspire nervousness and challenge others to elevate their craft.
Cannonball Adderley’s words highlight the role of established artists like Coleman Hawkins in influencing younger musicians. Instead of allowing nerves stemming from intimidation to dissuade him, the young tenor player should embrace this tension as a catalyst for growth and improvement in his own playing. It’s a reminder that the presence of greatness can serve as motivation to strive harder and reach new heights in one's artistic endeavors.
Themes
MusicInspirationArtNervousnessGrowth
In practice
Example use cases
During a music workshop, a mentor could quote this to encourage students to embrace the challenge presented by more experienced musicians.
More from Cannonball Adderley
All quotes →Similar quotes
I wouldn't say that I'm the greatest guitarist ever. I'd say probably that I'm the greatest guitarist sitting in this chair.
Jimi HendrixRead
I'll make a song with Rick Rubin, a song with Beyonce, a song with Lenny Kravitz. I just believe in making good music. I'm not trying to section myself off into just making hard-core rap music.
Jay-ZRead
This has not changed: always like the first time, very, very nervous. But when the music begins, you are in the music, it's a sort of transformation. Your feeling for the music is greater and has nothing to do with your nerves. You go out of yourself.
Montserrat CaballeRead
If I'd known white people were going to buy my last album, I never would have recorded it.
Lauryn HillRead
Link Wray... He was the beginning of Grunge, way before anybody you know.
Neil YoungRead
Hip hop is usually a bunch of guys talking to a bunch of guys, in my experience. It's homosocial, not homosexual, in that it's almost always all one gender in a room where it's being created. That locker-room environment has an impact on the language. I think the music suffers 'cause it allows an almost cartoonish level of misogyny.
John LegendRead