Terence Fletcher Quotes

I was there to push people beyond what’s expected of them. I believe that’s an absolute necessity.

There are no two words in the English language more harmful than good job.

Not quite my tempo.[repeated line]

Parker’s a young kid, pretty good on the sax. Gets up to play at a cutting session, and he f***s it up. And Jones nearly decapitates him for it. And he’s laughed off-stage. Cries himself to sleep that night, but the next morning, what does he do? He practices. And he practices and he practices with one goal in mind, never to be laughed at again. And a year later, he goes back to the Reno and he steps up on that stage, and he plays the best motherf***ing solo the world has ever heard. So imagine if Jones had just said: “Well, that’s okay, Charlie. That was all right. Good job.” And then Charlie thinks to himself, “Well, s***, I did do a pretty good job.” End of story. No Bird. That, to me, is an absolute tragedy. But that’s just what the world wants now.

Now, are you a rusher, or are you a dragger, or are you gonna be on my f***ing time?[to Andrew]

I never really had a Charlie Parker. But I tried. I actually f***ing tried. And that’s more than most people ever do.

For the record, Metz wasn’t out of tune. You were, Erickson. But he didn’t know, and that’s bad enough.

Either you’re deliberately playing out of tune and sabotaging my band, or you don’t know you’re out of tune, which I’m afraid is even worse.

But is there a line? You know, maybe you go too far and you discourage the next Charlie Parker from ever becoming Charlie Parker.[Andrew Nieman]No, man, no. Because the next Charlie Parker would never be discouraged.[Terence Fletcher]