There are so many things to be considered in making music. The whole question of life itself… I know that I want to produce beautiful music, music that does things to people that they need.
JOHN COLTRANEI’ve always felt that even though a man was not a Christian, he still has to know the truth some way or another. Or if he was a Christian, he could know the truth. The truth itself doesn’t have any name on it to me. And each man has to find this for himself, I think.
More John Coltrane Quotes
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When you begin to see the possibilities of music, you desire to do something really good for people.
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I believe that men are here to grow themselves into the best good that they can be – at least, this is what I want to do.
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Starting in the middle of a musical sentence and moving in both directions at once.
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I want to be the force which is truly for good.
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I want to be a force for real good. In other words, I know there are bad forces. You know, I know that there are forces out here that bring suffering to others and misery to the world, but I want to be the opposite force. I want to be the force which is truly for good.
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The real risk is not changing. I have to feel that I’m after something. If I make money, fine. But I’d rather be striving. It’s the striving, man, it’s that I want.
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Don’t ever get so big or important that you can not hear and listen to every other person.
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There is never any end, There are always new sounds to imagine; new feelings to get at. And always, there is the need to keep purifying these feelings and sounds so that we can really see what we’ve discovered in its pure state.
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I think I was first awakened to musical exploration by Dizzy Gillespie and Bird. It was through their work that I began to learn about musical structures and the more theoretical aspects of music.
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All a musician can do is to get closer to the sources of nature, and so feel that he is in communion with the natural laws.
JOHN COLTRANE -
Jazz is a word they use to sell our music, but to me that word does not exist.
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All of the technique doesn’t matter only if the feeling is right.
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I think I know what it is but don’t ask me to play it.
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Sometimes I wish I could walk up to my music as if for the first time, as if I had never heard it before. Being so inescapably a part of it, I’ll never know what the listener gets, what the listener feels, and that’s too bad.
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The first time I heard Bird play, it hit me right between the eyes.
JOHN COLTRANE






