Top 29 Quotes by Gerry Mulligan

I like what I hear other guys doing, but the thing that really attracts me is melodic playing.

People are approaching electronic levels in music; although not all of it happens to tickle my fancy.

The Russian composers, especially, tricked the symphony orchestra into the kind of dynamic, rhythmic thing.

You can make a saxophone into an electric organ; you can do everything with it.

The first reason for starting to do the symphony concerts was to play this new piece of mine.

In fact, I heard Bird first, and had got well into listening to him. You know, it's the kind of accidental thing that awareness of a player is: what's available, what somebody happens to play for you.

The other saxophones, except as solo instruments, really don't have much point in the orchestra.

People talk about innovations and evolutions and that kind of thing; I don't understand about that nonsense. It's like, all instruments are there to use all the time.

Because if you've got the wit, you can make anything into a melody, ultimately.

I've appeared on some other people's albums.