Yusef Lateef

External instruments are only extensions of the biological instrument.

I regard singing pretty much like acting. Each song is like playing a different role. I get very involved with my material. I feel a responsibility for the emotion it brings out in the listener.

Too many young musicians today want to win polls before they learn their instruments.

How do you explain what it feels like to get on the stage and make poetry that you know sinks into the hearts and souls of people who are unable to express it.

Composers tend to assume that everyone loves music. Surprisingly enough, everyone doesn’t.

I think you have to leave a lot to the imagination!

The way I feel today, as long as my health is good and I can handle myself well and people still come to my concerts, still buy my CDs, I’ll keep playing until I feel like I can’t.

It’s spontaneity that has always characterized Jazz music’s finest improvisers.

If you can’t play the Blues you might as well hang it up.

I hate to think of Jazz as black and white, something political.

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

It’s important to find your own voice and do something of your own.

There’s only two types of music. The stuff you can write down and the stuff you can’t. The stuff that you can’t write down is Jazz. Everything else is Polka.

I have always seen Jazz as innovative.

I only knew classical music, which to me was the only true music. The only way I could survive at the bar was to mix the classical music with popular songs, and that meant I had to sing. What happened was that I discovered I had a voice plus the talent to mix classical music together with more popular songs, which at the time I detested.

We all do ‘do, re, mi’ but you got to find the other notes yourself.