Wayne Shorter Quotes

Jazz shouldn't have any mandates. Jazz is not supposed to be something that's required to sound like jazz. For me, the word 'jazz' means, 'I dare you.'

If all you have is music, then you don't have music

The arts can open the door to the imagination, pushing the envelope of how peace can be created. It takes courage to take this kind of risk, and courage is what we all need to create a better world.

Music is interior decoration.

Go out on the stage as a human being and do not be afraid to show struggle in your music. It's a struggle in life and then struggle and then victory.

I always think of music as interior decoration. So, if you have all kinds of music, you are fully decorated!

No one really knows how to deal with the unexpected. How do you rehearse the unknown?

Dealing with the unknown, the unexpected, is a reflection for me musically of what's happening in the world, because people are learning how to dialog with each other without any past strategy or any kind of formula from the past.

Composing is improvisation slowed down.

You're like the girl who left her shadow in the drawer, but when she went to get it, it wasn't there.

Your humanity is your instrument.

To hell with the rules. I'm going for the unknown.

Play and write music the way you want the world to be.

Clouds float in the same pattern only once.

You know the actor John Garfield? In one movie he walked up to this train station, the ticket booth, and the guy says, 'Yes, where are you going?' And he says, 'I want a ticket to nowhere.' I thought: that's it. The freedom to do that. I want a ticket to nowhere.

I'm learning more about life when I'm playing too, and writing music. I'm learning more about life, the connection.

A series of vibrations. What does it matter, the source of the catalyst?

In an inconspicuous way, Gretchen Parlato knows how to play the same instrument that Frank Sinatra played. There's no one out there like Gretchen.

It’s making a statement about what life is, really. And I’m going to end the line with it.