Paul McCartney Explains Blackbird

In this sense, Coltrane’s sound of freedom, his infamous quest for perfection and ceaseless search for the “right sound” is, I think, neither mysterious nor otherworldly—but rather it is, I believe, the actual work of making freedom, grounded in the routine and everyday practice of doing and living.

I think the main thing a musician would like to do is give a picture to the listener of the many wonderful things he knows of and senses in the universe.

his understanding of the roles and functions of music in Black American culture, the legacy of black aspirations for freedom in the United States, and his intent to follow the “creative urge.”

I want to show the specific ways that Coltrane the person and artist used his music, work, spiritual life, identity, and community to express, indeed practice, a conception of freedom that remains useful today.

A great guitar solo is not about how fast you can play, or your degree of technical skill. It comes from a deeper place.

Now, one could point out that Prince didn’t spend a lot of time on that solo. He just stepped up and killed it in the moment, but this ignores the innumerable hours of purposeful practice Prince put into becoming Prince, the kind