…if you were behind a closed door and I heard your voice, I would know it was you without seeing your face. But can you imagine if sound is that identifiable–more than your face–that’s fantastic, right?
When you put your sound or your idea into an arena mixed with other things–if what you’re saying has a valid place–it’s going to find its position in that total thing, and it’s going to make that thing much better. You don’t have to worry about being a number one, number two, or number three. Numbers don’t have anything to do with placement. Numbers only have something to do with repetition.
I think that every person, whether they play music or don’t play music, has a sound–their own sound, that thing that you’re talking about. You can’t destroy that. It’s like energy. Your sound, your voice, means more to everyone that knows you than how you look tomorrow. You might grow a beard or shave your hair. They say, “I can’t recognize you.” But as soon as you talk, “Oh yeah, it is you!” It’s the same thing. If it’s that distinctive, then there must be something there.
It’s amazing that everyone has their own sound.
Quote from legendary jazz musician Ornette Coleman, interview by Michael Jarrett, November 8, 1987, Atlanta, GA, published in Cadence magazine, October, 1995.
I started shooting photos for this series in late April of 2011. It’s my second post with this tag. Apparently, I became distracted. (And later, I retagged a lot of photos with the numbers tag, so this one became, by date, number 4.)