Barney Kessel discusses his approach to leisure time.

Listen Now Add to Play List Read Transcript (File Size: 1.09MB)

Barney Kessel discusses his progression as a musician.

Listen Now Add to Play List Read Transcript (File Size: 0.36MB)

Barney Kessel discusses racial awareness and working with a black band in the '30s.

Listen Now Add to Play List Read Transcript (File Size: 0.28MB)

If you are experiencing problems playing audio on this site,
please update to the latest version of Flash.

Transcription

Q: “You are known as being a fine musician but at that, it his been thirty-five years in the making…”

A: “Yes, and it really takes effort on your part. It takes sacrifices. You have to be able to say no. You have to put money in its proper perspective, which to me is number two. It's a very big Technicolor importance, sky-written number two in the clouds, but it is number two. And you have to sort that out. I mean, I didn't sort that out when I was a very young man. You have to find out your priorities, get your priorities straight, and just because you make a record, it makes a lot of money, it could be a very dumb record. It could be a very ugly record and you may become typed as being the great executor of that particular type of ugliness and you can only sell your wares when you produce that ugliness. And the irony is that you may have to go through life doing that kind of thing for the rest of your life in order to get booked, because that's how the public sees you. So whenever you make a record, you better be able to live with it because you may have to.”