If a commission comes in for tuba and gorilla, she'll write a piece for tuba and gorilla, and it'll come out sounding like her. I think the humor in her music is ... like her thumbprint. And I would have to say that extends into her life away from music as well. I think it would be impossible for her to remain somber for more than a few minutes at a stretch.

Steve Swallow

Commission Gorilla Piece Tuba

Related Quotes

I go about composing like a factory worker. I punch in. I believe it's written somewhere "Steve Swallow has to sit uneasily at the piano for ten hours before receiving his next idea," so I sit there as patiently as possible. Eventually, an idea always comes, and then the rest is science.

— Steve Swallow

BelieveComposingFactory

I found it liberating of necessity to devise my own style and my own tactics and to look for a voice on the instrument because there weren't really any that impacted strongly on me.

— Steve Swallow

AnyBecauseFound

Occasionally, when I run into a great bass backstage at a festival I'll play a few notes on the low E string, just to feel the instrument vibrate against my belly.

— Steve Swallow

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A gorilla with a cellphone riding a bicycle is bound to generate some clever captions.

— Steve Breen

BicycleBoundClever

I don't play the tuba.

— Lenny Kravitz