Saxophone Quotes

I understood that if I wanted to work, the saxophone was the main instrument. The clarinet was what we call a double.

I wanted to play saxophone, but all I could get were a few squeaks.

If you like an instrument that sings, play the saxophone. At its best it's like the human voice.

The saxophone was created to mimic the human voice and I think that's why I gravitated toward the saxophone eventually. I'd loved the clarinet, but there's something about the saxophone that just grabs you.

The potential for the saxophone is unlimited.

The saxophone is an imperfect instrument, especially the tenor and soprano, as far as intonation goes. The challenge is to sing on an imperfect instrument that is outside of your body.

I wanted an electric train for Christmas but I got the saxophone instead.

Saxophone is one thing, and music is another.

You can work on the saxophone alone, but ultimately you must perform with others.

So I'm looking to the saxophone as a resource which has its own unique set of possibilities. I'm looking to exploit them and develop them and have the fullest range of possibilities of the saxophone be known.

Making a painting is like playing the saxophone. You hit the note and it comes out.

Drum on your drums, batter on your banjos, sob on the long cool winding saxophones. Go to it, O jazzmen.

I am a saxophone player.

There's so much music out there & so many possibilities. I like anyone who plays any instrument.

I play saxophone, I play tenor sax.

The drum is the heart of music. The saxophone can play and then rest, as can all of them except the drums; the drummer keeps going - he can't afford to stop.

The saxophone is the embodied spirit of beer.

I heard Sidney Bechet play a Duke Ellington piece and fell in love with the soprano saxophone.

I don't know why, but I like the saxophone.

You can make a saxophone into an electric organ; you can do everything with it

The other saxophones, except as solo instruments, really don't have much point in the orchestra

When somebody turned me on to a Coltrane record around seventh grade, I took up saxophone.

I played saxophone and trumpet. Pretty nerdy.

The saxophone is a very interesting machine, but I'm more interested in music.

I'm very gratified that I had my little 15 minutes,or whatever [at the Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition]. It certainly didn't make me rich and famous. But it helped a little bit for a while.

When I began listening to saxophones, I was first attracted to Coleman Hawkins

Nobody was playing the soprano saxophone and certainly nobody was trying to do anything with it. So I was all alone. I didn't know that at first.

I was studying with Joe Allard, which was great, as a saxophone student. Being able to study with Joe Allard was an incredible experience.

I like referring to the saxophone and having a guitar lick instead. Same with the cymbals; having the cymbals and not playing cymbals.

It's great to hear someone really care for the soprano saxophone.

I never really had a classical saxophone set-up. I just had a middle of the road set up.

I spend a lot of time copying saxophone players and trumpet players.

The Englishman foxtrots as he fox-hunts, with all his being, through thickets, through ditches, over hedges, through chiffons, through waiters, over saxophones, to the victorious finish; and who goes home depends on how many the ambulance will accommodate.

...black music is a group music. That's why I don't like doing a solo saxophone thing: My feeling stems from rhythm, I really have to feel that rhythmic thing happening.

I have not practiced saxophone since 1980. I mean, not one note. I do not pick it up in my house, and that's the end of it.

I've got a real love-hate thing with the saxophone. I've got to be careful.