Quotes from Stan Getz

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

I appreciate men like Ben Webster and Coleman Hawkins very much.

You don't rehearse jazz to death to get the camera angles.

You can read all the textbooks and listen to all the records, but you have to play with musicians that are better than you.

The saxophone is actually a translation of the human voice, in my conception. All you can do is play melody. No matter how complicated it gets, it's still a melody.

I've always regretted the fact that I've never formally studied and learned the mechanics of writing music.

I compulsively reach for perfection in music, often at the expense of everything else in my life.

Life is too full of distractions nowadays. When I was a kid we had a little Emerson radio and that was it. We were more dedicated. We didn't have a choice.

My dark sound could be heard across a room clearer than somebody with a reedy sound. It had more projection. My sound always seemed to fill a room.

I learn something new every day - to edit, to take out all the extraneous matter and stress form, logic, and content. I try to play beautiful music.

We made records to document ourselves, not to sell a lot of records. I still feel that way. I put out a record because I think it's beautiful, not necessarily commercial.

Hearing myself so much all the time, I don't think I sound that special all the time because it's me.

I came from an era when we didn't use electronic instruments. The bass wasn't even amplified. The sound was the sound you got.

My life is music, and in some vague, mysterious and subconscious way, I have always been driven by a taut inner spring which has propelled me to almost compulsively reach for perfection in music, often - in fact, mostly - at the expense of everything else in my life.

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.

Records used to be documents, but now record companies want product.

I played in rhumba bands, mickey mouse bands; all kinds of bands.

As far as playing jazz, no other art form, other than conversation, can give the satisfaction of spontaneous interaction.

Other than conversation, no other art form can give the satisfaction of spontaneous interaction like Jazz.

There are four qualities essential to a great jazzman. they are taste, courage, individuality, and irreverence.