Charlie Parker: Play

Charlie Parker was American jazz saxophonist and composer. Explore interesting quotes on play.
Charlie Parker: 12   quotes 15   likes

“Don't play the saxophone. Let it play you.”

Charlie Parker

As quoted in Words of Wisdom (1990) edited by William Safire and Leonard Safir, p. 435

“l'd been getting bored with the stereotyped changes that were being used all the time at the time, and I kept thinking there's bound to be something else. I could hear it sometimes but I couldn't play it. … I found that by using the higher intervals of a chord as a melody line and backing them with appropriately related changes I could play the thing I'd been hearing. I came alive.”

Charlie Parker

On his personal stylistic breakthrough, quoted in Hear Me Talkin' to Ya (1955) edited by Nat Hentoff and Nat Shapiro, . p 354

Thinking , Change , Time

“Any musician who says he is playing better either on tea, the needle, or when he is juiced, is a plain, straight liar. When I get too much to drink, I can't even finger well, let alone play decent ideas. … You can miss the most important years of your life, the years of possible creation.”

Charlie Parker

As quoted in Hear Me Talkin' to Ya: The Story of Jazz As Told by the Men Who Made It (1955) edited by by Nat Shapiro and Nat Hentoff, p. 379

Life , Idea , Drink , Tea

“I realized by using the high notes of the chords as a melodic line, and by the right harmonic progression, I could play what I heard inside me. That's when I was born.”

Charlie Parker

c. 1939 quoted in Masters of Jazz