I got into trad jazz, then modern jazz, then avant-garde jazz, between the ages of 16 to 18. Roy Harper Read Quote
As a really young child, I was listening to the echoes of the age before, music hall and stuff like that, as well as classical bits on the radio. Roy Harper Read Quote
I wanted to modernize music, but more than that, to completely modernize people’s attitudes towards life in general. Roy Harper Read Quote
When I was 15, I was wearing sandals and corduroys, Guernsey, striped pullover, a beard that was hardly there, shades and a beret, and the goal was hanging out. Roy Harper Read Quote
In some ways, I lament the introduction of civilisation on such a huge scale, because it has given us a lot of room to abuse each other, which we continue to do. Roy Harper Read Quote
I’m inspired by the poets, so I’m always going to give in that direction, rather than in any other. It’s the making of me… and also the downfall of me. Roy Harper Read Quote
Remember, this was a world that was still ethnically separated. I was thirteen and ignorant of the social situation in America, but I felt these records were better than what my own culture was turning out. Roy Harper Read Quote
Don’t shift because fashion has shifted. Don’t move from the original ethic you had, the original reasons. They’re part and parcel of you. Roy Harper Read Quote
