John Zorn quotes

John Zorn is an American composer, saxophonist, and multi-instrumentalist known for his experimental and avant-garde work. His music spans a wide range of genres including jazz, rock, classical, and film scores, often blending styles in unexpected ways. He has influenced generations of musicians through both his innovative compositions and his leadership of the New York downtown music scene. Here are 31 of his quotes:

I used to look at composing music as problem solving. But as I get older, it's not about problem solving anymore. There are no solutions, because there are no problems. You just turn the tap and it flows out. (John Zorn)
It's a blast to watch. It's a lot more interesting live than it is on record. I mean, it really is a theatrical event. It's a sporting event! Cause you never know what's gonna happen. View quote
John Zorn
Classical stuff takes a lot of rehearsal time and preparation, but with stuff that involves improvisation, you can over-rehearse it and it gets stale. You don't want it to be too comfortable. In fact, a good sound check, a good rehearsal usually means a bad performance. View quote
John Zorn
I'm constantly tortured, and that's why I say happiness is irrelevant. Happiness is for children and yuppies. View quote
John Zorn
You can't be idealistic in this world and not be crazy. View quote
John Zorn
I run around, I listen to a lot of music, go to a lot of concerts. And when I see someone that gases me, I try to go out of my way to involve them somehow in what I'm doing or get involved in what they're doing. View quote
John Zorn
Great musicians accept everything that they hear and find something good. They take what they like and they throw away what they don't like. View quote
John Zorn
I see myself and many artists like me as the torchbearers through these dark ages. View quote
John Zorn
It's a matter of keeping people on a spontaneous edge. View quote
John Zorn
Music is about people for me. It's not about sounds. It's about people; it's about putting people into challenging situations. And for me, challenges are opportunities. View quote
John Zorn
One thing that I do ask myself when I'm in the creative process is, 'Does the world need this?' (John Zorn)
When I'm writing, sometimes it gets to that place where I feel like the piece is writing itself and I'm trying not to get in the way. View quote
John Zorn
I don't ascribe to the idea of the ivory tower composer who sits alone in a room composing his masterpieces and then comes down from Mount Sinai with the tablets. It doesn't work like that. The job of a composer is putting something down on a piece of paper that will inspire the person who's playing. View quote
John Zorn
The magic that you find in surf music, I think, is really timeless. You know, when I was very young, I was in a surf band. Surf music is an instrumental music that still means a lot to me, not in an nostalgic way, but as something that really gets to the heart of the guitar itself. View quote
John Zorn
And I try to be as diplomatic as I can, but it always ends up being a psychodrama up there on stage. View quote
John Zorn
I put together the influences of my life in as clear a way as I possibly can, in the same way that Beethoven or Schoenberg or Bach put their influences together. View quote
John Zorn
As soon as you get a certain amount of attention, then everybody kinda wants to start taking pot shots at you. All your old friends that supported you don't support you any more. View quote
John Zorn
Well, in Japan, I have got a group of musicians that I have worked with a lot, that concentrate just on the hardcore stuff, say, that Naked City has been working on. We have like a repertoire of sixty songs now. View quote
John Zorn
The idealists will always be in society, and we will survive. View quote
John Zorn
That is a lot of the reason I do what I do, to really spread the word and spread information and turn people onto different things they may not be, y'know, aware of. That is what Naked City is certainly about. View quote
John Zorn
I have wit in my work and a sense of humor, but I do not use irony in any way. (John Zorn)
Eye was a great discovery. He is one of the great vocalists of all time. View quote
John Zorn
My solo music - I get up onstage, I improvise and it's my improvisation. When I get up onstage with Fred Frith and Mike Patton, then we're improvising together. Then it's not my music; it's our music. View quote
John Zorn
No one sits in front of a drum set and thinks they invented it all out of whole cloth. The fact that the set is there means that you've got some dues to pay to Baby Dodds. View quote
John Zorn
I don't play favorites with people. My basic philosophy is that the only way to make the world a better place is by bringing something beautiful to every single person you run into at every moment of the day, so how can you play favorites with somebody? View quote
John Zorn

John Zorn

John Zorn - Image
Photo: digboston, CC BY 2.0
Occupation: American Composer
Born: September 2, 1953
Quotes count: 31