Roscoe Mitchell Quotes

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Roscoe Mitchell

Profession : Composer

Birth : August 3, 1940

Life is short, and, once somebody is gone, they're gone.

Roscoe Mitchell

It wasn't until I got out of the Army and I heard Coltrane's record 'Coltrane,' when he was doing 'Inch Worm' and 'Out of This World,' that I thought, 'Oh my God, you can do that?' And then I thought, 'OK, I better go back and listen to Eric Dolphy a bit.' And then I said, 'Hmm, I better pull out these Ornette Coleman records.'

Roscoe Mitchell

I've always been interested in shaping music in odd ways, with odd riffs and that's been probably something that I've continued on with my studies with improvisation as I'm working with people.

Roscoe Mitchell

I remember times when the whole music scene was just flourishing.

Roscoe Mitchell

I felt that I had been influenced by being in the city enough and I wanted to go off by myself to see what was going on. I remember going out there and looking in the mirror and thinking I wasn't anything.

Roscoe Mitchell

You have to know composition to be a good improviser.

Roscoe Mitchell

I like to hear melodies that go from one extreme to the next- saxophone to a bell to a whistle, for instance.

Roscoe Mitchell

I don't like to box myself in when I'm composing.

Roscoe Mitchell

I'm approaching a period in my life though where I'd like to be totally absorbed into music, doing concerts, writing something. Basically, that IS what I am doing.

Roscoe Mitchell

I just consider myself a student, trying to learn more about it.

Roscoe Mitchell

I always try to think of a vocabulary to match different musical situations.

Roscoe Mitchell

What I try to impart to a musician is to really try to practice the instrument in a really sincere way. Learn as much about music as you possibly can. Learn composition. Study to try to create compositions of your own and put your own personal touch on your music.

Roscoe Mitchell

To be a good improviser, you have to study composition as a parallel. Because what improvisation is, on a high level, is spontaneous composition.

Roscoe Mitchell

You can work on music a few lifetimes.

Roscoe Mitchell

I'm the kind of guy that if I go to a concert and hear something that knocks me out, I don't want to be left out of that. I'm going to try to get into that, and I'm running back home to practice.

Roscoe Mitchell

This is what really makes real jazz musicians: people coming out with their own voice.

Roscoe Mitchell

Music has a way of getting under your skin.

Roscoe Mitchell

I'm trying to learn to really use space. My philosophy is that every time you interrupt space in a very confident, secure manner, then music happens.

Roscoe Mitchell

Creating sounds together with other musicians is something I've always liked doing.

Roscoe Mitchell

If you're playing with a number of people, there are all sorts of textures, all kinds of possibilities you can get into. So why just play a theme together and then take solos?

Roscoe Mitchell