Lester Bowie Quotations

You play ensemble things that you had no idea you were going to play two minutes before.

You know when I was younger I used to look at Downbeat Magazine and I figured anybody in Downbeat must be making a living.

You can establish a presence on the internet; you can have just as much of a presence as a major company or anyone else.

And there are a lot of people interested in creative music, there are more and more and more.

Many times you never know what's going to happen. You'll play songs that you never thought you were going to play.

The trumpet is forceful.

We're just beginning to learn the importance of music in our society.

They always say that jazz doesn't sell, but it's a lie, because it does sell, and it sells consistently year in and year out.

Jazz is so difficult. A lot of people think once they've learned these licks they can get up and play them for the rest of their life. But that's not being truthful to the music 'cause it's not developing. Cats you hear that don't make no mistakes? They ain't trying to do nothing. everything they hear is on the mark, but they've played it so many times... I've built a whole career out of making mistakes!

A chord is just the name of a sound.