67 Quotes by Steve Lacy

Kenny G, I have to be grateful to him for proving that the instrument can be played all different kinds of ways.

Risk is at the heart of jazz. Every note we play is a risk.

You have to sound sad first of all, then maybe later you can sound good.

It's very important to go through periods where you sound just rotten and you know it, and you have to persevere or give up.

The saxophone is a very interesting machine, but I'm more interested in music.

They call me before they go into production, when they have a prototype, and they call legitimate saxophonists, too. As opposed to the other kind.

When I heard Monk in person in 1955, he was playing with a quartet in a small club. The place was full of musicians, but there was no public at all.

I was spoiled by Monk's music because it was so good, so complete.

I fell in love with jazz when I was 12 years old from listening to Duke Ellington and hearing a lot of jazz in New York on the radio.