Nat Hentoff Quotes
Martin Williams persistently gets at essences, and that is why he has contributed so much to the very small body of authentic jazz criticism.
Quotes to Explore
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If you ask me, rockabilly has had a raw deal for far too long. People never shunned the blues or jazz the way they do rockabilly. But it's the original punk-rock, and it changed the way people looked at music for ever.
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Anytime you put a movie out it's subject to such scrutiny and such criticism.
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I started playing trumpet when I was 11 years old. All I wanted to be was a jazz trumpet player when I grew up.
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Perhaps there is no greater evidence that the teachers' union has swung too far out of the mainstream that they both have been a target of near-constant criticism from Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
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Too many jazz pianists limit themselves to a personal style, a trademark, so to speak. They confine themselves to one type of playing.
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In Malaysia, we have a lot of divas, like Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey singers. And they were all so so talented, just very talented. For example, there's this one jazz singer, her name is Sheila Majid, and I was always singing her songs.
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Taxi drivers used to ask me what kind of music I did, and I'd say, 'Well, it's kind of jazz, soul, classical' - but that makes no sense to anyone.
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As far as criticism, I don't mind critics. I mean, I wrote for 'Rolling Stone' for a hot minute. I like criticism. I enjoy criticism. The thing I don't like is cruelty for cruelty's sake. You don't have to be a jerk to say something negative. You can say something in the negative sense and have class.
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I think I represent a more left-wing view of what jazz is.
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My music is jazz.
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I always say the strength of democracy lies in criticism. If there is no criticism, that means there is no democracy. And if you want to grow, you must invite criticism. And I want to grow; I want to invite criticism.
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Enlightenment values of individual freedom are manifested best in individual acts of criticism and defiance.
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Critics do their job, and I take their criticism seriously.
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Criticism starts - it has to start - with a real passion for reading. It can come in adolescence, even in your twenties, but you must fall in love with poems.
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What puzzles me most is your criticism that he showed 'no sense of engagement'. I haven't met the expression before, and feel bound to comment on its totalitarian tang. Engagement not with the truth as the speaker apprehends it, but with the alleged opinion of the majority of listeners.
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The hard part (of communication) is hearing criticism so it can be easily given.
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Anybody that gives even a just criticism of the Jew is instantly labeled antisemite. The Jew cries louder than anybody else if anybody criticizes him. You can tell the truth about any minority in America, but make a true observation about the Jew, and if it doesn’t pat him on the back, then he uses his grip on the news media to label you anti-Semite.
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Inside the Party, Stalin has put himself above all criticism and the State. It is impossible to displace him except by assassination. Every oppositionist becomes ipso facto a terrorist.
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You can learn a lot from criticism if you can take what's constructive out of it. If you read a review that starts with, 'This person is an idiot; who do they think they are?', you're not going to learn anything from that.
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To pump up consumer or government demand would force interest rates up and asset prices down, possibly by enough to destroy more jobs than are created.
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It's more important to be righteous than to be right.
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People hate what they don't understand and try to destroy it. Only try to keep yourself clear and don't allow that destructive force to spoil something that to you is simple, natural, and beautiful.
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Poets and writers who are in love with the superlative all want to do more than they can.
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Martin Williams persistently gets at essences, and that is why he has contributed so much to the very small body of authentic jazz criticism.
