Reggie Workman

The fans dictate to you when you’re done!

Sound is the first thing that we tune into.

I hope my recordings of my own works won’t inhibit other people’s performances. The brutal fact is that one doesn’t always get the exact tempo one wants, although one improves with experience.

Using drugs didn’t help me play, all it did was hang me up for 15 years.

The audience should feel they are hearing the future, arriving just on time.

If you’ve only got one horn playing, I still want the sense of ensemble.

You want the listener to find the song on their own, give too much away and it takes away from the imagination.

I wasn’t interested in practicing Bach; I was too busy digging Horace Silver!

Damn it, when I’m bombastic, I have my reasons. I want to be bombastic: take it or leave it.

Jazz isn’t a what, it’s a how.

Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet.

Especially, I want my work-and the trios if possible-to sing.

I’m sure critics have their purpose, and they’re supposed to do what they do, but sometimes they get a little carried away with what they think someone should have done, rather than concerning themselves with what he did.

Yeah, it’s more like playing what you think is appropriate for the moment, not forcing any particular style.

It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.