Randy Weston quotes

“At first I didn't understand what [Thelonious Monk] was doing, but I went back again, and what I can say about Monk is that I heard ancient Africa in his music. When he played, it was like a ballet. He captured the sound of the universe. Monk could take a triad, a simple chord, and make it sound dissonant. I'm sure that element he had in his piano was part of the two years he spent traveling with his mother in gospel music in the tent shows.”
-- Randy Weston

#Music Quotes #Mother Quotes #Simple Quotes

“There's no appreciation for the giants [of jazz]; there's never been a major film on Duke Ellington , never a major film on Louis Armstrong. What they accomplished, we could never accomplish today...What's happening now is lightweight compared to what happened before. If Louis Armstrong was alive today, he'd be a superstar. If Art Tatum was alive today, my god, all the piano players would get on their knees. So that's what's missing today; we've been cut off from our heritage.”
-- Randy Weston

#Music Quotes #Appreciation Quotes #Art Quotes

“We all have music in us - your heartbeat is your drum, your voice is your sound - and music is supposed to put you in tune with nature.”
-- Randy Weston

#Voice Quotes #Sound Quotes #Tunes Quotes

“In Africa I discovered what the true purpose of a musician is. We are historians, and it is our purpose to tell the people the true story of our past, and to extend a better vision of the future.”
-- Randy Weston

Source : Randy Weston, Willard Jenkins (2015). “African Rhythms: The Autobiography of Randy Weston”, p.298, Duke University Press

#Past Quotes #People Quotes #Vision Quotes

“Our past as well as our future. It could have been completely destroyed when we were brought to the New World as slaves. They even took away our drums. And I don't want to talk about all those negative things going on. But its music is more present in our lives than ever. Blues, samba, calypso, reggae, jazz, salsa, Africa is everywhere.”
-- Randy Weston

#Past Quotes #Negative Quotes #World Quotes

“To stop the flow of music would be like the stopping of time itself, incredible and inconceivable.”

Source : Aaron Copland (1959). “The pleasures of music”

“The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking "Is there a meaning to music?" My answer would be, "Yes", And "Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?" My answer to that would be "No."”

Source : What to Listen for in Music (1939) ch. 2

“So long as the human spirit thrives on this planet, music in some living form will accompany and sustain it and give it expressive meaning.”

Source : Aaron Copland, Richard Kostelanetz (2004). “Aaron Copland: A Reader : Selected Writings 1923-1972”, p.32, Psychology Press

“There is something about music that keeps its distance even at the moment that it engulfs us. It is at the same time outside and away from us and inside and part of us. In one sense it dwarfs us, and in another we master it. We are led on and on, and yet in some strange way we never lose control.”

Source : Aaron Copland (1980). “Music and Imagination”, p.10, Harvard University Press

“Before you count the profit, count the cost of a working mother.”

“Growing up my mother played Sarah Vaughan and Nat Cole in the house regularly.”

“I'm the daughter of two Indian immigrant doctors, and I have an older sister and younger brother, and none of us have pursued medicine as a career. We're all over the artistic side of things.”

“Well, knowledge is a fine thing, and mother Eve thought so; but she smarted so severely for hers, that most of her daughters have been afraid of it since.”

“You have to remember that I was a bright but simple fellow from Canada who seldom, if ever, met another writer, and then only a so-called literary type that occasionally sold a story and meanwhile worked in an office for a living.”

“In regards to the price of commodities, the rise of wages operates as simple interest does, the rise of profit operates like compound interest. Our merchants and masters complain much of the bad effects of high wages in raising the price and lessening the sale of goods. They say nothing concerning the bad effects of high profits. They are silent with regard to the pernicious effects of their own gains. They complain only of those of other people.”