We in the Western world suffer from too many categories and classes; we've forgotten that we all still have diapers on. We've separated music from life.
Ornette ColemanRead
You've got to realize. In the western world, regardless of what color you are, what title the music is, it's all played by the same notes.
Interpretation
Music transcends race and genre, fundamentally sharing the same elements.
Ornette Coleman's quote emphasizes the universality of music, suggesting that irrespective of racial or cultural differences, all musicians operate using the same foundational components of musicβnotes. This highlights how music can unify diverse backgrounds, inviting a recognition of shared humanity through the art form.
In practice
During a conversation about the power of music in bringing people together, I quoted Ornette Coleman to highlight its unity.
We in the Western world suffer from too many categories and classes; we've forgotten that we all still have diapers on. We've separated music from life.
You don't have to worry about being a number one, number two, or number three. Numbers don't have anything to do with placement. Numbers only have something to do with repetition.
So, for instance, if you came to me, I'd ask, 'Do you want to write? Do you want to improvise? Why do you want to play this instrument? What do you want to do?'
That's what I was trying to say when we were talking about sound. I think that every person, whether they play music or don't play music, has a sound - their own sound, that thing that you're talking about.
It's just someone has labelled us as having a different label to do what you do. I find that labels are the worst thing in the world for artistic expression.
I decided, if I'm going to be poor and black and all, the least thing I'm going to do is to try and find out who I am. I created everything about me.
I wanna show that gospel, country, blues, rhythm and blues, jazz, rock 'n' roll are all just really one thing. Those are the American music and that is the American culture.
We all have idols. Play like anyone you care about but try to be yourself while you're doing so.
With Saint Heron, I really wanted to celebrate and continue to cultivate the community for genre-defying R&B artists.
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.
There's a new hit rock group or singer every five minutes, but with country music, you have one hit and those people love you forever.
Clare Fischer was a major influence on my harmonic concept. He and Bill Evans, and Ravel and Gil Evans, finally. You know, that's where it really came from. Almost all of the harmony that I play can be traced to one of those four people and whoever their influences were.
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