Pat Metheny

The beauty of Jazz is that it’s malleable. People address it to suit their own personalities.

Jazz is not something that can be defined through blunt instruments. It is much more poetic than that.

I don’t worry too much about the fundamentalist principles that are in almost any discussion about Jazz.

Jazz music will continue to thrive, possibly in unexpected ways.

Listening is the key to everything good in music.

My first relationship to any kind of musical situation is as a listener.

I have a lot of albums yet to do.

I don’t really get nervous, I prepare. When the music messed up in the beginning, it tapped into my nerves and when you’re nervous and vulnerable, something special and something different can happen.

As a little kid, blues meant hope, excitement, pure emotion. Blues were about feelings. They seem to bring out the feelings of the artist and they brought out my feelings as a kid. They made me wanna move, or sing, or pick up Reverend’s guitar and figure out how to make those wonderful sounds.

As a young cellist I had played to an audience that had included Pablo Casals and reacted with poor, nervous playing. Casals sought me out after the concert and praised me highly, somewhat easing the pain and thinking him a very kind man.

I have always seen Jazz as innovative.

I have younger friends who don’t work and they aren’t doing so well. My secret is to keep going, keep working.

Ah music… a magic beyond all we do here!

A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write to ultimately be at peace with himself.

My chops were not as fast… [but] I just learned more on what was in my mind than what was in my chops. I learned a long time ago that one note can go a long way if it’s the right one, and it will probably whip the guy with twenty notes.

In music the passions enjoy themselves.

When I decided that I wanted to be a Jazz musician, I knew that it was about improvising.

Music is a gift and a burden I’ve had since I can remember who I was.

We made records to document ourselves, not to sell a lot of records. I still feel that way. I put out a record because I think it’s beautiful, not necessarily commercial.

Trying to play the new concept with a outward bound feeling.

It’s the group sound that’s important, even when you’re playing a solo. You not only have to know your own instrument, you must know the others and how to back them up at all times. That’s jazz.