If I’m going to play this instrument (oboe), I want to get to the point where I can be creative on it.
Amongst a sea of bad decisions I’ve made in my life, that was a good one! (dropping out of school to join Buddy Rich’s band)
I don’t ever want to have a conversation ever again where it’s like. . . we really have to hire at least one woman. No! There’s so many capable and ready women.
To play with the great Steve Witser and Joe Alessi that summer in Colorado was pretty special.
When you communicate. . . make it easy for someone to call you for a gig.
We (Lucerne Festival Orchestra) did Mahler 3 with Boulez . . . it was off the charts!
Anybody who plays or teaches trombone at the Eastman School of Music stands on Emory Remington’s shoulders.
Dizzy once told me he liked the way I played. . . I said could you write that down?!
Seeing live music is an integral part of the way we internalize the process of playing music.
It boils down to playing music, talking about music, listening to music.
Any profession where the supply is much greater than the demand, you have to have tremendous persistence and desire to be really great.
In the old days, we'd have copying parties. . . you copy violin 1, you copy violin 2.
