Ernie Watts Quotes (11 Quotes)

Some get it and some don't, but I think most do, ... But I can only play what I feel. When I plan a program, it's just a road map for a musical journey. What happens on that journey is what makes the music interesting.

I've told them that if they can stick around for a couple years, we could be pretty good. There's not a team in the area that's got sophomores as good as what I've got.

He now views his sojourn into rock and pop as meaning nothing in musical terms, ... If I'd never done it, I might have felt like I missed something.

Every time I play a tune, it's different, ... It should be different because that's the essence of what jazz is. I've probably played that tune 200 times, and like everything, the piece evolves and changes and there's more depth to it.

At that point, my mom joined the Columbia record club, and we got our first record, 'Kind of Blue' by Miles Davis.

I'm not in the music business I'm in music, ... What I love to do has evolved, technically and harmonically, but it's not as marketable. This record company isn't for trying to make commercial records for a particular market. It's an outlet to expose the music and energy I believe in and for those who are looking for something more, it offers an option.

I think it is very important for young people to know that, if you follow your heart and do what you believe in, it will always work out for you.

Everything has changed my tone, my harmonics, my technique and control of my horn, ... It's all part of my evolution as a jazz musician, that combined with the fact I now perform regularly and practice two to three hours a day and more, when possible.

Just because you're totally acoustic doesn't mean you have to play old music. We're straight-ahead but not dated, ... Besides, if the lights go out, you can still hear the band.

I worked in L.A. for 25 years, ... I played oboe, English horn, piccolo, flute, clarinet. But what happens when you do that is you spend your practice time on instruments you are weaker on to make them stronger. The instruments you are strong on become weaker. At some point, you end up in a mush of mediocrity. I was working for quantity, and I wanted to get back to my primary interest, which was to play jazz on the saxophone.

what I do and enjoy best, playing mainstream jazz.