I would also like to thank my father who discouraged me from playing the violin at an early age. (Paul Desmond)
The qualities in music I considered most important -- and still do -- were beauty, simplicity, originality, discrimination, and sincerity, (Paul Desmond)
Writing is like jazz. It can be learned, but it can't be taught. (Paul Desmond)
We used to get on planes, and they'd ask who we were, and we'd say, 'The Dave Brubeck Quartet', and they'd say, 'Who?' In later years they'd say, 'Oh', which amounts to the same thing. (Paul Desmond)
Complexity can be a trap. You can have a ball developing a phrase, inverting it, playing it in different keys and times and all. But it's really more introspective than communicative. Like a crossword puzzle compared to a poem. (Paul Desmond)
I was overlooked long before anyone knew who I was. (Paul Desmond)