Quotable Quotes - Anthony Braxton quotes

Anthony Braxton quotes

“A guy like me could not necessarily be acceptable to the components, which were coming together to define what this time period would be about and yet, I must say hurray for the Creator.” — Anthony Braxton

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“As far as I'm concerned, the AACM demonstrated a model of what I call the "house of music" on the tri-plane in a way that would set the direction of my life.” — Anthony Braxton

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“At the same time, Berg would apply the twelve-tone technique very different from Arnold Schonberg.” — Anthony Braxton

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“Born in this most incredible time period with universal assumptions and the opportunity to be a part of trans-centric model constructs that will support the entry into the third millennium.” — Anthony Braxton

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“But now, we are seeing the techno-crafts take the stuff of the music and recast that on the second plane saying the actual notes are the music, when in fact, the system that I've been working on is not a Pythagorean affair.” — Anthony Braxton

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“But that's a racist assumption, the assumption that someone's rhythm is more superior than someone else's rhythm. But these are the tradeoff assumptions.” — Anthony Braxton

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“Europeans are responsible for all the high level restructural information of humanity and the polarity of that proposition is that African Americans have such special rhythms and have the ability to play the blues.” — Anthony Braxton

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“Everybody in America is angry about something.” — Anthony Braxton

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“Five point five billion dollars would be maybe asking for too much.” — Anthony Braxton

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“. For me, at this point in my life, when I try to understand, when I look at questions like this, more and more, I find it hard to differentiate the differences between what we call music and what we call not music.” — Anthony Braxton

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“Here I am, at fifty-six, my marriage of twenty-two years has blown up. My children and I find ourselves in this complex structure as we all fight to find a way to connect with one another. Life is really something.” — Anthony Braxton

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“How wonderful it is that we have so much diversity in human experience.” — Anthony Braxton

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“How would I want my work to be perceived or referred to? I would say it is just an opportunity effort, an effort to take advantage of an opportunity.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I am interested in the study of music and the discipline of music and the experience of music and music as a esoteric mechanism to continue my real intentions.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I am most certainly interested in architectonic targets and the question of identity.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I am viewed as the Negro who has gone outside of the categories assigned to me.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I believe that some aspect of this quality is going to be a component of the third millennium.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I believe that the coming time cycle promises to be totally dynamic.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I could see where the African-American nationalist sector would feel a mistrust in my direction.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I could think where the jazz business complex would not see my work as being correct for jazz.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I don't want to say manipulated because anything can be manipulated, but that makes sense to the Christian constructualists, whether we're talking of efforts to have the Bush administration work with the Black church.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I feel very lucky that I'm still alive. I've outlived my older brothers. My brother Joe died at forty-two. Lafayette died at something like fifty-one.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I for one have always embraced trans-temporality tradition, present time and future as one unit in the system that I'm working on.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I got into the taxicab and thirty dollars was spent going into the city, only to look out of the cab and there was Steve McCall. I had felt he was going to be in Paris. The cosmics helped me again.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I have just wanted to do my work. I wanted to have the right of definition. The right of definition in my opinion was part of what that struggle was at the time period, the Sixties.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I most certainly wanted to be successful in the way the concept is classically defined.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I reacted a long time ago against jazz and the component of the Democratic Party and while I've always tried to respect the Christians, my effort was always tri-centric.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I see my work as part of the opportunities that opened up in the time period of the 1960s. That opportunity involved trans-idiomatic experiences.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I thank the Creator of the universe to have discovered the discipline of music was the greatest gift that I could have been given, the possibility to be a student working in the world.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I think of Lester Bowie, Leo Smith, and Muhal Richard Abrams as three of the main guys in the Sixties who talked about the importance of those guys to everyone who would listen.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I think of the great experience of Charlie Mingus, who demonstrated another unique aspect of modeling, musics which changed speeds, suites, double compositions.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I turn on the television set sometimes and they are talking about Silicon Valley saying that they have these sessions where they just kind of get together and push ideas around and we're changing these models.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I wanted a system that would be equal to the dynamics of curiosity. I wanted to have a music where I could have some fun.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I wanted the right to define a proposition that would make sense for me based on the experiences I was having.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I wanted to build a system that would give me the possibility to keep adding to it.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I wanted to live. I wanted to be alive. This experience goes by very quickly. Part of the radiance of a moment, in my opinion, involves that which we call music.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I was only trying to do my work in the way of my heroes and role models. So at fifty-six to have discovered that there does seem to be a small group of people who are interested, that is great for me.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I was very connected to Karlheinz Stockhausen, but I was also connected to Penderecki and the great percussive work of Spike Jones, which we have all forgotten about.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I went to Paris for the first time. I had a one way ticket and fifty dollars. If the customs agent had asked to see my return ticket home, they probably would not have let me in Paris.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I would find myself backing away from all of the "isms," all of the communities. I have always been able to be misused by every community But that is OK. I would rather be misused than neglected.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I would have preferred in the beginning to have a normal life. That's what I wanted like everyone else, to work hard and to have a good material existence, the whole bit.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I would say creativity should cover the spectrum and by that, I would say that there are different kinds of creativities, all designed for different kind of poetic propositions and experiences.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I would talk the antebellum psychologies and portray myself as a victim on the bi-plane, then it might be possible to be given a hearing, which I would blow.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I would think that the African American nationalists would think we could be much greater racists than the Europeans could ever be.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I'm saying in the time period of the middle Sixties, it is important to remember that the last time I saw John Coltrane at the Plugged Nickel, the club had like ten, fifteen people and most of the people were from the AACM.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I'm very much aware in this time that time has gone by very quickly and I feel fortunate that there are things that I want to do and there is music.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I've been fortunate to discover something that I could give myself to and in the end, one has to do one's work and try to advance to whatever degree if possible.” — Anthony Braxton

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“I've only tried to work with what is possible. From the beginning, I most certainly was open to having success.” — Anthony Braxton

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“If I would say, "Swing baby, swing and burn it up," then there would be room for a guy like me.” — Anthony Braxton

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“If I would write a piece of music and celebrate the law of forces or all the complexities, it might be possible to have my work embraced. But my work is a tri-centric effort.” — Anthony Braxton

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“In fact, I've been very fortunate. I've discovered something that I love and I've tried to stay with it.” — Anthony Braxton

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“In other words, we have this special feeling and of course, the African American community believes that.” — Anthony Braxton

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“In the end, all a guy can ask for is a hearing.” — Anthony Braxton

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“In the end, I've gone through thirty-five years of reacting to these variables only to discover that in my isolation that actually life is not so bad.” — Anthony Braxton

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“In the Fifties, it was presented as hard bop on one end. On the other end, you had like Lou Donaldson or Horace Silver playing the more funky musics. In the Sixties, you had the fusion or whatever.” — Anthony Braxton

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“In the last five, ten years, it has become necessary for me to back up a bit and continue to pursue my effort, this project that I've been working on for the last thirty five years.” — Anthony Braxton

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“In the time period of the Sixties, I wanted the right to do what I wanted to do with my own definitions.” — Anthony Braxton

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“Is my interest in mathematics healthy or not healthy? I don't have the slightest idea, but I will say this much.” — Anthony Braxton

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“It became clear to me when, what I call the jazz business complex would reconfirm the antebellum components, setting up the proposition that we find ourselves dealing with in this time period.” — Anthony Braxton

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“It is not the kind of thing that the jazz structure is prepared to deal with.” — Anthony Braxton

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“It is really just a question in my opinion of allowing for diversity in the various quadrants and idioms and suddenly, some of these questions would be answered even before they're asked.” — Anthony Braxton

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“It was an affirmation of the musics of the trans-distances of the music.” — Anthony Braxton

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“It was an attempt to solidify the music and to respond to the vibrational challenge of that time period, the vibrational challenge being the future, the hope of the future.” — Anthony Braxton

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“It's a tri-centric affair. Any real attempt to examine the undercomponents of world creativity would find a composite demonstration of formal qualities.” — Anthony Braxton

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“It's an extension of my love for melody. It is an extension of my love for poetic space.” — Anthony Braxton

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“It's only with the separation of the re-structural musics that we find the body drawing on itself. In every other discipline, in every other community, re-structural exams and innovation is taken for granted.” — Anthony Braxton

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“Jazz people couldn't use a guy like me because my work doesn't come separate from defined components.” — Anthony Braxton

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“Mathematics, the application of mathematics on the bi-plane would be a narrow interpretation of my processes.” — Anthony Braxton

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“Mingus was incredible. I think of the great work of Sun Ra, who demonstrated composite aesthetics.” — Anthony Braxton

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“Most African Americans, especially the men and women from my generation, would accept the nationalist gambit that says only European Americans can be racists, which is an interesting gambit.” — Anthony Braxton

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“My life has been very beautiful and complex. I have been the recipient of many positive experiences and yes, I have made more than my share of mistakes.” — Anthony Braxton

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“My music system for me is an extension of model railroad set. It's an extension of my love of TV cameras and TV network systems.” — Anthony Braxton

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“My work is not simply about a composition. For the last thirty-five years, I've worked to build tri-centric thought unit that demonstrate architectonic logic experiences and finally, that demonstrate ritual and ceremonial compositions.” — Anthony Braxton

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“My work was not idio-centric, in a way, where I could be of value to the forces, which are rebuilding components in this time period.” — Anthony Braxton

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“No one tried to tell the other what to think. It was a multiple hierarchical psychology taking place.” — Anthony Braxton

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“Nobody has everything in their life. But I'm glad or at least, I feel fortunate to know at fifty-six, that there is a small group around the planet who can hear my work and I'm happy about that.” — Anthony Braxton

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“Normally, the African American nationalist sector says anything you can do, I can do better.” — Anthony Braxton

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“Only later would it become apparent that if I were to pursue my effort in the way I defined it, than I would have to build another structure that would grant me the right to continue my work as a human being.” — Anthony Braxton

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“Our people are spoiled. Our people are the recipients of some of the greatest advances on this planet, but nobody sees it.” — Anthony Braxton

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“So I try not to take my struggle as a target personal cosmic phenomenon and to realize instead that it was an opportunity to struggle.” — Anthony Braxton

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“So if I say, "Swing baby, swing," what I'm really doing, in my opinion, is conforming to the most basic constructs that would underline the modern era anyway.” — Anthony Braxton

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“So the AACM was not a reaction to the tradition in the sense of feeling that we hated Louis Armstrong or we hated New Orleans or we hated Kansas City.” — Anthony Braxton

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“So the question then is not what Braxton is doing, but suddenly I am operating from this deficit.” — Anthony Braxton

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“So this is why we're seeing in this time period, a big surprise, "Oh, we're not seeing creativity."” — Anthony Braxton

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“So, yes, I am in the underground, but actually, it feels like home.” — Anthony Braxton

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“Suddenly they switch to Bill Gates or any of the visionaries who've become very successful.” — Anthony Braxton

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“Suddenly, Coltrane solos become the "it" of music, when in fact, the records and the notated solos are the sonic footprints, the bone structure of what actually happened in the music.” — Anthony Braxton

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“That is all I could ask for. So, yes, in many ways, I feel like the luckiest guy on the planet.” — Anthony Braxton

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“That means that my effort is not in total isolation. I never meant for it to be esoteric in the sense of not something that a broader sector of the public could relate to.” — Anthony Braxton

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“That time period, the time period of the Sixties was very complex and extreme in some ways and yet at the same time, the AACM would demonstrate a union of men and women were one.” — Anthony Braxton

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“That's music. You're walking down the street and the sun comes up and no matter how bad things are, at least you're not Timothy McVeigh.” — Anthony Braxton

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“The arguments from the Fifties again would be the polarity arguments that would resurface in the Sixties.” — Anthony Braxton

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“The Lincoln Center sector says, "Oh, well, he doesn't play the blues." What they are really saying is the he doesn't have the kind of idiomatic psychology.” — Anthony Braxton

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“The organization was not perceived as a bi-plane political operative, but rather a collective where we can begin to re-evaluate the components of our situation.” — Anthony Braxton

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“The reality of music structure cannot be divorced from mathematics. Albert Ayler was a mathematician. Cecil Taylor is a mathematician in the sonic space. At the same time, we tend to, when we think of the subject of mathematics, we tend to think only of certain methodologies or parameters.” — Anthony Braxton

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“The thing I think is most important for one to know about the AACM is the AACM was comprised of a group of men and women who were the believers.” — Anthony Braxton

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“The word music is a convenient way to talk about what I'm interested in, but actually, in some ways, it's a limitation.” — Anthony Braxton

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“The word revisionism doesn't take into account all the components. In a way, everything has to be revived because I believe the third millennium will be a trans-ethnocentric thought unit anyway.” — Anthony Braxton

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“There is the wonderful discipline of music and the ability of music to keep on opening up fresh prospects. I must say, what a discipline!” — Anthony Braxton

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“This has been the game that has been played against guys like me from every sector.” — Anthony Braxton

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“This is true for the African-American antebellum traditionalist's sentiments who have always mistrusted me and I can respect that.” — Anthony Braxton

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“This time period has been a period that I refer to as a period in exile for me.” — Anthony Braxton

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“This would become, for me, the most significant gathering of musicians of its kind historically. This would be like a poignant definition in the evolution of the music.” — Anthony Braxton

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“Tomorrow, I will be completely out of money and I'm going around trying to borrow money from my friends to get my car started, so let me say, thank you very much, Mr. Jung. This keeps me going.” — Anthony Braxton

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“We evaluate the great work of Scott Joplin and in case of a guy like myself, I wanted the right to listen to whatever I wanted to listen to and to integrate whatever I wanted to integrate.” — Anthony Braxton

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“We've seen this in Reconstruction.” — Anthony Braxton

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“What would I take back in my own life? What would I focus on? I don't know. I would say, yes, I have had to struggle in my life, but then everybody has to struggle in their life.” — Anthony Braxton

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“When I think about the time period in the Sixties, I think about the great work of John Coltrane that demonstrated one form of modeling.” — Anthony Braxton

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“You're not a victim unless you want to be a victim. If you are going to be a victim, at least be a victim on the tri-plane.” — Anthony Braxton

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“You're talking to a person and you both come to a vibration where you understand something and someone smiles.” — Anthony Braxton

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