Happy Birthday, Copeland

Jazz is the last refuge of the talentless. I’ve tried to listen to those guys. I know what drugs those guys are on, and you can’t fool me. Jazz has the highest quotient of the king’s new clothes. The 10 percent at the top is amazing, of course. But I’ve been a musician for 60 years now and you can’t fool me – those guys are just wiggling their fingers.

One of my favorite ways to enliven an otherwise somber dinner party is to make a statement like, "The problem with jazz musicians is that they all suck." Okay, now we’ve got a party, now we’re talking.

That doesn’t mean that Stanley Clarke isn’t a genius, and that on some of those cuts Miles Davis wasn’t burning. That’s what music is all about. But it is a world where you can get up there and put a vaguely petulant expression on your face, wiggle your fingers, and get away with it.

Stewart Copeland

The Police, "Wrapped Around Your Finger"