Time & Perspective Quote by Benny Green

Green is describing a ritual of self-correction, and it’s telling that he reaches for a record instead of a mirror. “Attitude adjustment” is musician slang with moral weight: not just “get in the zone,” but get your ego back in scale. He frames listening as a kind of apprenticeship that never ends, where the masters aren’t background inspiration but a standing tribunal. Put the needle down, and your excuses get cross-examined.

The phrase “examples there for all time” turns recorded music into evidence. In jazz, reputation is often built on the fragile currency of stories, jam-session lore, and who heard you on a good night. Records cut through that. They don’t care about your bad sleep, your tough gig, your “experimental” phase. They preserve the receipts: time feel, touch, phrasing, patience. Green’s “keep us honest” implies the darker subtext that musicians are constantly tempted to bluff - to substitute volume, speed, or attitude for substance. The record is the antidote because it’s precise: you can’t argue with a bar of perfect swing.

“Keep us reaching” balances humility with hunger. This isn’t nostalgia; it’s a competitive reverence, the healthy kind. Green also nods to the anxiety of newness - the cultural pressure to declare every generation revolutionary. “They’ll never be eclipsed” isn’t a denial of progress so much as a reminder that certain achievements set the horizon. You can build new cities, but the mountains don’t stop being mountains.