"Don't play the saxophone. Let it play you."
"I don't care who likes it or buys it. Because if you use that criterion, Mozart would never have written Don Giovanni, Charlie Parker would have never played anything but swing music."
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Source: Quoted in Nat Shapiro and Nat Hentoff, Hear Me Talkin' to Ya (1955)
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More quotes by Charlie Parker
"Master your instrument. Master the music. And then forget all that bullshit and just play."
"Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art."
"You've got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail."
"Once I could play what I heard inside me, that's when I was born."
"Don't be afraid, just play the music."