“Since I was very young, I’ve played all kinds of music: bar mitzvah music, Sousa marches, strip-club music, jazz, pop.
Everything.
I didn’t have to learn a thing to do Michael Jackson.”
“You’re supposed to use everything from the past.
If you know where you come from, it’s easier to get where you’re going. Musical principles exist, man. Musicians today can’t go all the way with the music because they haven’t done their homework with the left brain.
Music is emotion and science.
You don’t have to practice emotion because that comes naturally.
Technique is different. If you can’t get your finger between three and four and seven and eight on a piano, you can’t play. You can only get so far without technique. People limit themselves musically. Do these musicians know tango? Macumba? Yoruba music? Samba? Bossa nova? Salsa? Cha-cha?”— Quincy Jones
via the ever awesome Tren Griffin.