Horace Silver discusses his early musical influences

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Horace Silver discusses his influence on jazz

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Horace Silver discusses musical inspiration

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Q: “I think of you in a way – and you’ve just reinforced it – that you’re sort of a filter, that the music’s out there and it comes through you. The music ‘is’, you aren’t the music in that sense.”

A: Horace Silver: “That's exactly right. The music comes through you, not from you, but through you and it's out there and you, when you're open, that is when you're in a relaxed state of mind, whether it's floating around there, seeps into your head somehow and you write it down and you go ahead. That is not to say that you're taking dictation, you know.”

Interviewer: “No.”

Horace Silver: “Because I had an interview one time with another DJ and he said, "Well, what do you mean to tell that you're just taking dictation? You know, you get something and you just write it down." I said, "No, what you usually get when you pick it up from the airwaves where it comes, you know, the ethers or wherever it comes from, it's a seed, it's a seed thought. You know, you're not given usually the whole thing. You know, you're given ...”

Interviewer: “A kernel of an idea.”

Horace Silver: “Yeah, yeah, a gem, a seed of an idea and then you have to develop it.”