I've been around jazz and jazz musicians most of my life.
My life has had a lot of fits and starts: before I studied literature at all I was a musician, and began undergrad as a conservatory student. I started studying literature in my third year of college, when I took a poetry course with James Longenbach that was pretty extraordinary. It changed my life.
A great musician is just a thief who doesn't get caught
Not with the Rochester Philharmonic, but I formed my own orchestra, made up of musicians from the Eastman School, where I'm on the faculty now, direct the Jazz Ensemble and teach improvisation classes.
I'm just one of these unpopular musicians.
I have always felt I was more accurately a Hard Rock musician.
Canada is a country of ingredients without a cuisine; we're a country with musicians without an indigenous instrument; Toronto's a city that doesn't even have a dish named after it.
All the high-tone, big-time folks would say, 'Isn't it wonderful how these untrained, primitive musicians can pick up all the latest songs instantly without being able to read music?
Elvis Costello had a brand new bag. He was a musician, but he knew all about the attitude part of it.
We all grew up idolizing another musician. That's how this works. That's how music is created.
The musicians themselves don't seem to know enough about why they're in the positions they're in, so they're afraid to lose those positions.
I always loved the look of musicians. I've always admired them because they have a look - when I was growing up, it seemed that the ones I liked didn't need to have a stylist.
As the mother teaches her children how to express themselves in their language, so one Gypsy musician teaches the other. They have never shown any need for notation.
If a musician cares about what he or she is doing, and you show up and care, you can go some place. That will never change. There are a number of ways to approach this, and my favorite is the way we're doing it now - just talking.
As a musician I tell you that if you were to suppress adultery, fanaticism, crime, evil, the supernatural, there would no longer be the means for writing one note.
If you want to be a doctor, a lawyer you must go to college. But if you want to be a musician or such, study your craft. Study music.
It's emotional blackmail to say if you're a good businesswoman and a musician, you're betraying your music.
I suppose musicians have the kind of arrogant attitude that they can actually offer the world something, because through their passive power, they're able to be the strongest arms that they can be, incredibly strong. That's what keeps us going.
(For songwriters) Development of your facility as a musician is also important.
Being an American musician means being adventurous.