"For someone who has had such an impact on just the aesthetic of improvised music and guitar, as a total guitar hero, there was such a degree of humility..."

"... that — it wasn't that he downplayed what he did — he had this sense that it was part of something way bigger."

Jim Hall died Tuesday at the age of 83.

(Many video clips and quotes at the link.)

ADDED: "He said he would occasionally retune the strings of the guitar randomly, not even necessarily to exact pitches, just to force himself to be creative in a different way, without depending on his usual crutches."