To hear Clifford Brown two years after you start playing the trumpet in Montana was pretty eye opening . . . to say the least!
It boils down to playing music, talking about music, listening to music.
The phone rings in my office. It’s Rudy Van Gelder! He says . . . did you write Basically Blues . . . yes I did . . . well Buddy Rich just recorded it. Where do we send the check?
Freddie’s feel, his time, his sound, just the spirit and essence of his playing. . . if I could play one phrase as great as what I just heard, that’s it! I could just retire!
Creative music will only really work in the marketplace if you’re a good businessman.
It’s like looking at the Dead Sea Scrolls when you look at the paper with Thad Jones hand.
You can create a lot of great opportunities for yourself as a musician if you just make stuff.
Writing for McCoy was great. You could be the saddest arranger in the world. . . you could write nothing, but when he plays it, it sounds great!
Working with Michael Brecker was the deepest experience of my life.
You studied music, I studied the history of interesting releases for lead trumpet players.
The real art in music is composing and improvising. There’s nothing else. I wanted in my life to somehow get better in those fields.
