“When you hear Bach or Mozart, you hear perfection. Remember that Bach, Mozart and Beethoven were great improvisers.”

– Dave Brubeck

“Improvisation is not the expression of accident but rather of the accumulated yearnings, dreams and wisdom of our very soul.”

– Yehudi Menuhin

“Self study leads to improvisation and improvisation leads to evolution.”

– Oscar Auliq-Ice

“Learn the rules and then break them in such a way as to exercise good taste.”

– George Shearing

“Improvisation is the ability to create something very spiritual, something of one's own.”

– Sonny Rollins

“When we improvise freely – that is, without a structure – it tends to sound more like 20th century classical music, more like a classical ensemble improvising, as opposed to a free-jazz group, where you're more used to hearing saxophones honking.”

― John Abercrombie

“Improvisation is the power of spontaneous observation.”

― Wyatt Pringle

“Learn everything, then forget it all.”

― Charlie Parker

“I'll play it first and tell you what it's called later.”

― Miles Davis

“...And as regards method, the improviser employs the oldest in music-making... Mankind's first musical performance couldn't have been anything other than a free improvisation.”

― Derek Bailey

“Improvisation is intuition in action, a way to discover the muse and learn to respond to her call.”

― Stephen Nachmanovitch