Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
[Jazz musicians] feel comfortable with their clichés, you know.
[Prince] could very well be the Duke Ellington of Rock 'n' Roll.
They [police] do me like that all the time! "What you work for?".
There are no wrong notes in jazz: only notes in the wrong places.
I've used [drum machine] because I have to have the perfect tempo.
You know why I quit playing ballads? Cause I love playing ballads.
Certain drummers drop time, and I like to play on top of the beat.
Don't worry about playing a lot of notes. Just find one pretty one.
Jazz is the big brother of Revolution. Revolution follows it around.
You can't play anything on a horn that Louis Armstrong hasn't played
You can't compete with Sweets' sound and time feel. It's impossible.
A painting is music you can see and music is a painting you can hear.
When you do anything too long, you either wear it out or lose interest.
You have to know 400 notes that you can play, then pick the right four.
Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself.
Some of [drummers] drop time because they want to hear what you're doin'.
The way you change and help music is by tryin' to invent new ways to play
People will go for anything they don't understand if it's got enough hype.
I don't care if a dude is purple with green breath as long as he can swing.
Everybody ought to listen to Benny [Carter]. He's a whole musical education.
The only reason to write a new song is because you're tired of the old ones.
Monk taught me more about music composition than anyone else on 52nd Street.
I'm out there doing the best that I can, My lip is cut and I'm still playing.
Prince might be bringing that low sound back, because he has that double bass.
I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am one thing, a musician.
It was Jimi Hendrix that I first got into when Betty Mabry turned me on to him.
You have to practice for a long time before you can learn to sound like yourself
When the band plays fast, you play slow; when the band plays slow, you play fast.
When we edit the music, I always remember, "It's my band. Save me a place to play."
I think every Negro over fifty should get a medal for putting up with all that crap.
A legend is an old man with a cane known for what he used to do. I'm still doing it.
You should never be comfortable, man. Being comfortable fouled up a lot of musicians.
Lionel [Richie] said, "Yeah, I learned chords and stuff playin' against your albums."
You ever hear Buddy Miles play the drums? You know, he doesn't vary the tempo at all.
I know what I've done for music, but don't call me a legend. Just call me Miles Davis.
The thing to judge in any jazz artist is, does the man project and does he have ideas.
I really liked Wynton when I first met him. He's still a nice young man, only confused.
The only way a drum machine will get out of beat is for you not to pay your electric bill.
Some day I'm gonna call me up on the phone, so when I answer, I can tell myself to shut up.
White folks always think that you have to have a label on everything - you know what I mean?
If you hit a wrong note, it's the next note that you play that determines if it's good or bad.
I'm not messing around with nobody's woman. If I want a woman I go get her - you know what I mean?
In Europe, they like everything you do. The mistakes and everything. That's a little bit too much.
It's a different ballgame now, so that lets [teo] Macero out. He's always complainin', always sick.
I never thought Jazz was meant to be a museum piece like other dead things once considered artistic.
As long as I've been playing, they never say I done anything. They always say that some white guy did it.
I can tell. I'm gifted with that, you know. When I hear that the tempo is slightly off, it's hard for me.
Like Ron Lorman's always sayin', "Na-na-na-na-na," you know what I mean? I don't need that in the studio.
If somebody told me I only had an hour to live, I'd spend it choking a white man. I'd do it nice and slow.
Anybody can play. The note is only 20 percent. The attitude of the motherfucker who plays it is 80 percent.