SM: I don’t mean that you play in the street. I just mean the experience of hanging out with fellow musicians, eating together, exchanging ideas and rapping about music—different ways of playing, who you like and don’t like, and the importance of this way of playing as opposed to that way of playing. That’s what I mean by the term “street music.” It’s an exchange of ideas away from the bandstand and away from actually playing.
Also, your environment definitely influences you. I was born in downtown New York. I know this sounds very dramatic, but to me the energy of the City—with the hustle and bustle of the people, going uptown and listening to music, and traveling on the subway—all had to do with playing and with music. Now there are great jazz musicians who come from a cornfield or someplace, but they always come to the City. They bring a different kind of texture and a different approach to playing, but they have to come to the City to be heard. I think the City also rubs off on them. So I also mean that, when I say jazz is “street music.” But in its basic form, jazz is a very primitive music. When you get a primitive music, it becomes similar to folk music, and of course, all of that goes back to the environment. I feel the same way about jazz. Jazz has a way of absorbing all of these basic human feelings from all cultures and expressing it in its own way."
From - Shelly Manne – The Last Interview by Charles M. Bernstein, Modern Drummer, 10th Aug 2018
