Roscoe Mitchell Quotations

I think that good improvisers should be able to play solo as well as master all the problems that happen within a group improvisation.

I just consider myself a student, trying to learn more about it.

I felt that I had been influenced by being in the city enough and I wanted to go off by myself to see what was going on. I remember going out there and looking in the mirror and thinking I wasn't anything.

I'm approaching a period in my life though where I'd like to be totally absorbed into music, doing concerts, writing something. Basically, that IS what I am doing.

I remember times when the whole music scene was just flourishing.

I always try to think of a vocabulary to match different musical situations.

You have to know composition to be a good improviser.

If you listen to nature, all the sounds are done in a confident way. I'm trying to do that.

I like to hear melodies that go from one extreme to the next- saxophone to a bell to a whistle, for instance.

What I try to impart to a musician is to really try to practice the instrument in a really sincere way. Learn as much about music as you possibly can. Learn composition. Study to try to create compositions of your own and put your own personal touch on your music.

I've always been interested in shaping music in odd ways, with odd riffs and that's been probably something that I've continued on with my studies with improvisation as I'm working with people.

I don't like to box myself in when I'm composing.