MJF's Interview with
BEN FLOCKS
Artists Who Influenced
Dexter Gordon
“When you know the lyric to a tune, you have some kind of insight into its composition. If you don’t understand what it’s about, you’re depriving yourself of being really able to communicate this poem.” - Dexter Gordon
Joshua Redman
"The most important thing is to listen. That's where the inspiration is." - Joshua Redman
Count Basie
"If you're going to come up with a new direction or a really new way to do something, you'll do it by just playing your stuff and letting it ride. The real innovators did their innovating by just being themselves." - Count Basie
Herbie Hancock
"The instrument is a mechanical thing. What I want to project is music which is human, it transcends the instrument." - Herbie Hancock @ MJF/54
Pat Metheny
"Listening is the key to everything good in music." Pat Metheny
Stan Getz
“A quartet is like a good conversation among friends interacting with each others ideas.” - Stan Getz
Sonny Rollins
"It's all about creation and surprise. It just needs to be appreciated and watered like flowers. You have to water flowers. These peaks will come again." - Sonny Rollins
Wayne Shorter
"What's needed is the experience in dealing outside of the safe zones of life." - Wayne Shorter
Recommended Recordings
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