Bebop Spoken There

Some choice quotes from the Bebop Spoken There archives.

Geri Allen: "Mary Lou Williams was playing bebop when Charlie Parker was still in short pants." - (DownBeat August 2018.).

Bob Brookmeyer: "The group's philosophy? We're saving to buy new uniforms - the ties wore out." - (Crescendo March 1965).

Brian Clough: "There's nothing worse than a great performer losing some of his appeal when he puts on a different hat. [Trevor] Francis in management was like watching Frank Sinatra attempting to become a juggler..." - (Cloughie, Walking on Water - My Life. Headline Book Publishing 2002).

Dottie Dodgion: "He [Buddy Rich] plays good for a man." -  (DownBeat March 20, 1969.)

Duke Ellington: "We starved for 5 weeks and once we split a hot dog 5 ways." – (DownBeat July 1936).

Vin Foy: “The instructor was amazed at how quickly I'd picked up on Morse Code. 'It's just crotchets and quavers' I replied!" – (Conversation).

Dexter Gordon: "We must assume that if they are music critics, then they must know something about music." - (DownBeat June 22, 1972).

Johnny Hodges: "They [most saxophone players] go around like gunfighters trying to cut each other down."- (DownBeat December 1, 1966).

David Izenzon: "I know more about what I don't know than about what I do know" - (DownBeat June 2 1966).

Elvin Jones: "Let's just say he [Rashid Ali] has a unique conception of time." - (DownBeat March 24, 1966).

Miles Kington: "If the intake of alcohol fails to improve a jazz players performance, why do jazz listeners think it improves their appreciation?" - (Jazz Express October 1982).

Humphrey Lyttleton: "At a concert in Rouen, I stamped in a number on the neck of Freddy Legon's banjo and smashed it to smithereens. The front rows actually rose to their feet and accorded me a special ovation." -  (Second Chorus by Humphrey Lyttleton - MacGibbon & Kee Ltd. 1958.)

Wingy Manone: "One hock-shop guy had my horn so much he learned to play it and took gigs away from me!" -  (DownBeat April 7, 1966).

Red Norvo: "I was stumped too when the whole music business seemed to fall apart. I didn't know whether to try something with a band, go back to my vaudeville act, or open a hot dog stand. I decided to take a shot with a trio" - (DownBeat August 11, 1950).

Arturo O’Farrill: “I like to put a younger musician next to a veteran and hope each will influence the other’s thinking.” – (DownBeat September 2014).

Art Pepper: "I found that every time I went to jail I came out and I was a little more in tune. I had more depth, more soul." - (DownBeat June 5, 1975).

Q (Quincy Jones): “Michael Caine taught me how to speak Cockney.” – (Jazzwise September 2015).

Sonny Rollins: "These guys who only play their own tunes, they can cover up a lot of things, but if you play the melody of Stardust, everybody can tell whether you're doing it right or not." - (DownBeat August 26, 1965).

George Shearing: "Speaking about Johann Sebastian Bach I think he'd be a real jazzer if he were alive today. I mean any man who has two wives, twenty kids, gets kicked out of the church for being too harmonically radical and drinks beer can't be all wrong can he?" - (Crescendo March 1984).

Joe Temperley: "Of course, I consider myself Scottish. I am Scottish. I still support Cowdenbeath." -  (Jazz Journal July 2012).

James Blood Ulmer: "The role of the guitar used to be limited, you took one or two choruses then the horn player took about 12. Made me want to get my own band, so I could do what I wanted to as a guitar player." -  (Down Beat April 1994).

Joe Venuti: "In America we don't have so many festivals--we have Jazz Parties." - (Crescendo October 1977).

Fred Wesley: "I only met Cannonball Adderley one time. He was in a restaurant and he and Nat were having lunch. So we had a short conversation. Mostly about the waitresses' big butts. We never got to talk about music." -  DownBeat July 2007).

Vasilis Xenopoulos: “I like playing jazz that has form, and structure. That’s what I’ve been doing for years and I like it.” – (Jazzwise July 2015).

Lester Young: “I've got big eyes for Bix" - (DownBeat 1956).

Mike Zwerin: "He (Miles) blew Old Folks and a young girl sitting near me said 'He opens up melodies like a flower'." - (DownBeat March 10, 1966).

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