Chick Corea

Only a spiritual being has awareness.

The fact that an artist is experiencing the joy of creation makes me feel like we’re in it together.

I got a chance to listen to and watch Thelonious Monk and his quartet play two shows a night, for six weeks. It was a great education. There was my university, man.

The sound of the orchestra is one of the most magnificent musical sounds that has ever existed.

My one thing is I continue to be interested and want to be a student. I don’t want to be a master. When I’m learning something, I’m in my element.

Miles Davis was a part of my life from 1947 on. I was born in 1941 and I first heard him in 1947 on a 78 rpm. And then I followed his career, starting with his first solo album in 1951. He was an icon and inspiration and a mentor to me.

There’s always this sound out there that’s just a little beyond my reach and that just sort of keeps me going.

Jazz improvisation is the art of collective negotiated expression.

Jazz is a music to be played and not to be intellectualized on.

I want to keep redefining my work and trying new things. I want my music to be able to fit into any category. I want it to float wherever my heart goes. My music is heart music; giving it any other description is dangerous.

If you can’t get your songs to people one way, you have to find another.

Darlin… be-bop is the music of the future.

A great thing about being a musician is you don’t stop until the day you die.

I’ve worked with jazz artists, country artists, classical artists, pop artists. I never wanted there to be categories, because when I was a kid there weren’t.

My Strat is another arm, it’s part of me. It doesn’t feel like a guitar at all. It’s an implement which is my voice.

I’m using the insides of sounds to move around in a very subtle way which, I think, ends up being inevitable. I feel its the only solution to that particular problem that I presented myself.

A good bassist determines the direction of any band.

Jazz is the big brother of the blues. If a guy’s playing blues like we play, he’s in high school. When he starts playing jazz it’s like going on to college, to a school of higher learning.

They told me to play what I felt. Hey, I’m a Jazz musician, that’s what I do.

He’s not a performer, he’s not a composer, he’s not even a musician, but Norman Granz is Mr. Jazz.

I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.