Yusef Lateef famous quotes

Last updated: Sep 5, 2024

External instruments are only extensions of the biological instrument.
-- Yusef Lateef

#Music #Instruments
Each culture has some knowledge. That's why I studied with Saj Dev, an Indian flute player. That's why I studied Stockhausen's music. The pygmies' music of the rain forest is very rich music. So the knowledge is out there. And I also believe one should seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave. With that kind of inquisitiveness, one discovers things that were unknown before.
-- Yusef Lateef

#Believe #Rain #Player
The fact is ones own voice is not heard anywhere else. Its a challenge to be yourself. It takes a lot of courage.
-- Yusef Lateef

#Being Yourself #Voice #Challenges
Whatever I do today is the whole continuum of my experience. Like John Dewey said in his book â€˜Art as Experience,â€™ you canâ€™t separate experience from the work of art. So, if I write for the symphony today, youâ€™re listening to everything thatâ€™s happened to me since I was 18 years old.
-- Yusef Lateef

#Art #Book #Writing
Loveless moments are to be avoided.
-- Yusef Lateef

#Moments #Loveless
When the soul looks out of its body, it should see only beauty in its path. These are the sights we must hold in mind, in order to move to a higher place.
-- Yusef Lateef

#Moving #Order #Sight
I started to study the flute in 1951. The flute has been utilized by African-American musicians as far back as the early Twenties. If you take a look at some of the old pictures of Chick Webb, then you will see the flute right there on the bandstand among the woodwinds.
-- Yusef Lateef

#African American #Flutes #Musician
I started in high school with a teacher there. I also took lessons at the Conservatory of Music in Detroit. Detroit was very motivating. There were a lot of local people who inspired me like Kenny Burrell, Paul Chambers, Roy Brooks, Donald Byrd, etc.
-- Yusef Lateef

#Teacher #School #People

The more I compose, the more I know that I don't know it all. I think it's a good way to start. If you think you know it all, the work becomes a repetition of what you've already done.
I wanted to be different and original but still have it be something my fans could get into. There also are some big, beautiful ballads. I told my producers that I wanted tracks that are going to blow up in the clubs, but I also wanted songs that were very melodic and with a lot of instrumentation.
The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking "Is there a meaning to music?" My answer would be, "Yes", And "Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?" My answer to that would be "No."
I was in New York, miserable because I was working supper clubs but I wasn't expressing myself. I was really unhappy with my life. I saw Max Roach again and he told me I didn't have to do things like that. He made me an honest woman on the stage. I have been performing in that tradition since. I feel that I'm a serious performer now whereas then I wanted to be but I didn't know how.
Water and air He for the Tenor chose, Earth made the Base, the Treble Fame arose, To th' active Moon a quick brisk stroke he gave, To Saturn's string a touch more sore and grave. The motions strait, and round, and swift, and slow, And short and long, were mixt and woven so, Did in such artful Figures smoothly fall, As made this decent measur'd dance of all. And this is Musick.
I asked my daughter when she was 16, What's the buzz on the street with the kids? She's going, to be honest, Dad, most of my friends aren't into Kiss. But they've all been told that it's the greatest show on Earth.
The focus on my appearance has really surprised me. I've always been a size 14 to 16, I don't care about clothes, I'd rather spend my money on cigarettes and booze.
I always try not to overload my music with orchestration and to use only those instruments that are absolutely necessary.
The guitar is the easiest instrument to play and the hardest to play well.
Why then would people look to the United Nations as an instrument of peace, if instead all it is, is an instrument of putting out declarations that nobody intends to take seriously anyway?

Yusef Lateef famous quotes

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