I just got to hear every note. After I left Birdland, I started working at the Jazz Gallery. In the end, I still couldn't play, but I knew how to listen. I was probably the world's best listener.

Quote by Carla Bley

Topics: Carla Bley Quotes

Listening is more important than anything else because that's what music is. Somebody is playing...

Listening is more important than anything else because that's what music is. Somebody is playing...

I like chords that are very lush with all the lush parts taken out.

I like chords that are very lush with all the lush parts taken out.

When you are studying jazz, the best thing to do is listen to records or...

When you are studying jazz, the best thing to do is listen to records or...

Living composers writing for big band are very few and far between. There are not...

Living composers writing for big band are very few and far between. There are not...

When Ronald Reagan was elected I was on a bus traveling with a band in...

When Ronald Reagan was elected I was on a bus traveling with a band in...

I got started when I was 3 years old because my father was a music...

I got started when I was 3 years old because my father was a music...

I don't enjoy traveling in America. I don't like the food, the cars. It is...

I don't enjoy traveling in America. I don't like the food, the cars. It is...

I still prefer the bebop of the '40s. The very stuff I started out with...

I still prefer the bebop of the '40s. The very stuff I started out with...

One performer whose band played my music better than I could myself was Art Farmer....

One performer whose band played my music better than I could myself was Art Farmer....

I don't need much coaxing.

I don't need much coaxing.

Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker seemed so sophisticated and bad. I wanted to be like...

Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker seemed so sophisticated and bad. I wanted to be like...

It would be really hard to get serious about anything political today unless it was...

It would be really hard to get serious about anything political today unless it was...

I write very slowly.

I write very slowly.

When you have 13 horns, and one is soloing, you have 12 people to play...

When you have 13 horns, and one is soloing, you have 12 people to play...

There are times when what's happening in rock is the best music in the world,...

There are times when what's happening in rock is the best music in the world,...

I don't think you can ever regain your ignorance.

I don't think you can ever regain your ignorance.