QuoteProject
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!
Cannonball Adderley
ShareWTF𝕏

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

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

Similar quotes

I used to be followed by a moon shadow. Now I'm followed by all these misconceptions, and they're like a ball and chain. I just want to write music from my heart and give people a message of hope and the search for a better place.
Cat StevensRead
I'm from Kenner, Louisiana, where music is played for every occasion in life. There's music for being born, there's music for dying... It's just natural. Families get really good because they play a lot together.
Jon BatisteRead
If you started in New York you were dealing with the biggest guys in the world. You're dealing with Charlie Parker and all the big bands and everything. We got more experience working in Seattle.
Quincy JonesRead
As a very small girl, I listened to Charlie Parker and loved him and Max Roach and people like that.
Aretha FranklinRead
Radio stations have constructed a narrow door[way], and that's because they don't understand how complex and paradoxical our snap judgments are. It's hard to measure new songs.
Malcolm GladwellRead
In truth, I became a conductor because deep down I wanted to conduct Brahms's four symphonies and Richard Strauss's tone poems.
Zubin MehtaRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.