Saxophone Quotes

Don't play the saxophone. Let it play you. (Charlie Parker)

So I'm looking to the saxophone as a resource which has its own unique set of possibilities. I'm looking to exploit them and develop them and have the fullest range of possibilities of the saxophone be known.

Evan Parker

I remember once, when I started writing for the alto saxophone, a saxophonist told me to think of it as being like a cross between an oboe and a viola, but louder.

Gavin Bryars

You can work on the saxophone alone, but ultimately you must perform with others.

Steve Lacy

When I was young, I never bought records because my brother Joseph played saxophone and had a record player. I loved listening to his records: The Dorsey Brothers, Duke Ellington, all the big American jazz bands, and vocalists like Ella Fitzgerald, Ernestine Anderson, and Kitty White, a singer from the US who was a friend of Nina Simone. Nobody in America seems to know about her, but she was quite popular in South Africa.

Miriam Makeba

Listening to as many guitar solos as possible is the best method for someone in the early stages. But saxophone solos can be helpful. They're interesting because they're all single notes, and therefore can be repeated on the guitar. If you can copy a sax solo you're playing very well, because the average saxophonist can play much better than the average guitarist.

Ritchie Blackmore

After I left Texas and went to California, I had a hard time getting anyone to play anything that I was writing, so I had to end up playing them myself. And that's how I ended up just being a saxophone player.

Ornette Coleman

I play drums, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, french horn, piano.

Norman Wisdom

The sax solo as we know it today would not exist without Gerry Rafferty. His 1978 soft-rock classic 'Baker Street' has to be the 'Ulysses' of rock & roll saxophone, giving the entire chorus over to Raphael Ravenscroft's sax solo, creating one of the Seventies' most enduringly creepy sounds.

Rob Sheffield

My father is a real idealist, and he's all about learning. If I asked for a pair of Nikes growing up, it was just a resounding 'No.' But if I asked for a saxophone, one would appear and next day and I'd be signed up for lessons. So anything to do with education or learning, my father would spare no expense.

Hugh Jackman

My secret dream has always been to be a jazz musician. I tried the saxophone for a year or two when I was younger, but unfortunately I had to face the fact that I was not really talented! (Gaspard Ulliel)

I spend a lot of time copying saxophone players and trumpet players. Not to say that it is not important to listen to guitar players, but there's so much music out there and so many possibilities. I like anyone who plays any instrument.

Bill Frisell

I played saxophone, so I was into jazz. I learned from each audience and each teacher that I had. I can't really tell you any rules or anything, but the way I develop my beliefs is really just by personally learning from different situations.

Chad Hugo

I wanted an electric train for Christmas but I got the saxophone instead.

Clarence Clemons

As a horn player, the greatest compliment one can get is when a person comes to you and says, 'I heard this saxophone on the radio the other day and I knew it was you. I don't know the song, but I know it was you on sax.'

Clarence Clemons

You can make a saxophone into an electric organ; you can do everything with it.

Gerry Mulligan

I started realizing that music is the one area where I've always let go. When that saxophone goes into my mouth, I get into a space where I never think about the notes I've already played or anticipate the notes ahead.

Kenny G

I understood that if I wanted to work, the saxophone was the main instrument. The clarinet was what we call a double.

Lee Konitz

I like to hear melodies that go from one extreme to the next- saxophone to a bell to a whistle, for instance.

Roscoe Mitchell

Bill Justis was a saxophone player, good musician, arranger, and friend of mine who had a big hit called Raunchy.

Ray Stevens

The saxophone is an imperfect instrument, especially the tenor and soprano, as far as intonation goes. The challenge is to sing on an imperfect instrument that is outside of your body. (Stan Getz)

If you like an instrument that sings, play the saxophone. At its best it's like the human voice.

Stan Getz

Saxophone is one thing, and music is another.

Steve Lacy

The potential for the saxophone is unlimited.

Steve Lacy

I've been working on the soprano saxophone for 40 years, and the possibilities are astounding. It's up to you, the only limit is the imagination.

Steve Lacy

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