D C DowDell

What’s tied Jazz together is its foundation in the Blues, a reliance on group interplay and the unique phenomenon of spontaneous improvisation.

From hard rhythms of Be-bop, the mellow harmonies of Cool, to atonal forays of Free and the Straight Ahead delivery of Modern, it’s all Jazz.

Jazz goes into my coffee in the morning, in my wine at night.

Learn the tunes by playing the masters, learn expression by playing yourself.

Play the music not the instrument.

Jazz – it takes passion to make it happen!

For most dates I was paid the sum of $1 per hr and they always tipped me at the end of the night.

Play what you want and let the public pick up on what you doing even if it does take them 15, 20 years.

I was not prepared to play the role of singer in the camp of the warriors

I see my body as an instrument, rather than an ornament.

People all over the world have problems. And as long as people have problems, the blues can never die.

I want the music to connect to people; reach people every time I perform.

Montreal was a very active jazz center until club owners started putting in strippers instead of music. Before long, there was nothing to hear.

I cringed when I heard myself described as a Jazz singer. I’ve always thought of myself as a Jazz vocalist.

I feel I have only scratched the surface of what I know I am capable of doing.

But the guitar, my lady, whether well played or badly played, well strung or badly strung, is pleasant to hear and listen to; being so easy to learn, it attracts the busiest of talented people and makes them put aside loftier occupations so that they may hold a guitar in their hands.

I’ll always write music. Whether I release a record, whether I let the public hear it or not, I’m always writing music.

What don’t I want to learn? I have how-to books, history, nature. Ain’t nobody here saying, ‘You’d better learn this.’ But I still think I’ve got a head on my shoulders, and it pleases me.

It’s like a whole orchestra, the piano for me.

When I got started in New York, if you were different from Miles and Dizzy it was very difficult.

In this trumpet I hear our icons and the sound of the future.