You can play a shoestring if you’re sincere.
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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All a musician can do is to get closer to the source.
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Damn the rules, it’s the feeling that counts.
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The reason I play so many sounds, maybe it sounds angry, is because I’m trying so many things at one time, you see? I haven’t sorted them out. I have a whole bag of things that I’m trying to work through and get the one essential.
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Sometimes I wish I could walk up to my music for the first time, as if I had never heard it before.
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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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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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My goal is to live the truly religious life, and express it in my music. If you live it, when you play there’s no problem because the music is part of the whole thing. To be a musician is really something. It goes very, very deep. My music is the spiritual expression of what I am – my faith, my knowledge, my being.
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Change is inevitable in music – things change.
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I think I know what it is but don’t ask me to play it.
JOHN COLTRANE -
My music is the spiritual expression of what I am — my faith, my knowledge, my being…When you begin to see the possibilities of music, you desire to do something really good for people, to help humanity free itself from its hangups…I want to speak to their souls.
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The first time I heard Bird play, it hit me right between the eyes.
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Working with Monk is like falling down a dark elevator shaft.
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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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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.
JOHN COLTRANE -
Considering the great heritage in music that we have – the work of the giants of the past, the present, and the promise of those who are to come – I feel that we have every reason to face the future optimistically.
JOHN COLTRANE