Every instrument is a percussion instrument.
I don't know who said this, but I do know what they meant, and it's something too few musicians have figured out. Internationally acclaimed saxophonist Michael Brecker said an interesting thing about rhythm at a clinic I saw him do at the Eau Claire Jazz Festival in the spring of '97. Notes are just decoration that you hang on the rhythms. If you've listened to any of this incredible musician's work, you're probably thinking, Geez, this guy does a hell of a lot of decorating. He is, after all, a very notey player, famous for blistering lines comprised of what seem like incomprehensibly dense swarms of notes.