"Don't play the saxophone. Let it play you."
"It's just music. It's trying to play clean and looking for the pretty notes. The beat in a bop band is with the music, against it, behind it. It pushes it. It helps it. Help is the big thing. It has no continuity of beat, no steady chug-chug. Jazz has, and that's why bop is more flexible."
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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."