Best 709 quotes in «jazz quotes» category

The strange thing about Africa is how past, present and future come together in a kind of rough jazz, if you like.

The theory is that you don't play a song the same way twice because it's jazz. That's where I'm coming from.

The trio is the biggest sound you can have with the smallest unit.

The type of band that I have now, the type of music that we're playing you either like it or you dislike it. If you dislike it, you probably don't know why. By the same token, you can't even really say why you like it.

The value of music is not dazzling yourself and others with technique.

The whole basis of my singing is feeling. Unless I feel something, I can't sing.

The wonderful thing about Jazz is its willingness to take chances.

The whole reason for Jazz at the Philharmonic was to take it to places where I could break down segregation.

The whole thing of being in music is not to control it but to be swept away by it. If you're swept away by it you can't wait to do it again and the same magical moments always come.

The whole thing of being in music is not to control it but to be swept away by it.

The worst thing about the life of a jazz musician on the road is getting to the gig. Once you're there and playing, it's marvelous.

The worst crime is faking it.

They're singing your praises while stealing your phrases.

They always ask me the same questions. Where was I born? When did I start singing? Who have I worked with? I don't understand why they can't just talk to me without all that question bit.

They always want to sell me as a hard bopper.

This is a tradition of resistance to the term that's as old as the term itself, especially because that term has been used to commodify and reduce black creativity, and also to appropriate and sell it. That's what John Coltrane said in an interview with a Japanese journalist: "Jazz is a word they use to sell our music, but to me that word does not exist." And he's treated as one of the central figures in the history of jazz. So if he rejected it, then why is it weird when I do it? I'm in the tradition!

To hell with the rules. I'm going for the unknown.

This is our bandstand. If you don't want to play, get up off the instrument and leave.

This whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, “Is there a meaning to music?” My answer to that would be, “Yes.” And “Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?” My answer to that would be, “No.”

To me, jazz is the closest thing to insanity that there is in music.

To me, the piano in itself is an orchestra.

To me, nostalgia is nothing more than a mindless plundering of the past for the commonplace.

Well, I'm too old to pimp, and too young to die, so I'm just gonna keep playin'

Tommy Dorsey would walk up to you if you had a tuxedo on and make sure you didn't have on white socks.

Trumpet players are just belligerant, and cocky, and you know, just hard-headed.

Unlike anything heard before. This is jazz for the 21st century.

We all listened to a lot of recorded music, especially American jazz, modern jazz, and that's where our studies were and our inspiration came from.

We always talk about how everyone is unifocal. You can't possibly be interested in jazz and Beethoven. Of course you can. You can't both be reading a newspaper and be online. Of course you can. We shouldn't be obsessed with a gun to your head, 'You either read a newspaper or die!'

Well, actually, I don't consider myself a jazz legend or anything.

Trouble follows me wherever I go. Thing I'm in is just a sack o'woe.

Trumpets! Can you bring your... uh... extracurricular tubing necessities next rehearsal?

Up to the age of 14 I had not heard a note of anything before 1750, never heard a note of Bach, never heard anything after Wagner, and never heard any real jazz.

Well, Grover Washington was my main influence and when I went to college, I started listening to more of the jazz masters like Sonny Rollins, Cannonball Adderley, and John Coltrane.

Well, I think writing is basically about time and rhythm. Like with jazz. You have your basic melody and then you just riff off of it. And the riffs are about timing.

Well, jazz is to me, a complete lifestyle. It's bigger than a word. It's a much bigger force than just something that you can say. It's something that you have to feel. It's something that you have to live.

We must be as pure as our music.

Well if I could play like Wynton, I wouldn't play like Wynton.

We real cool. We Left school. We Lurk late. We Strike straight. We Sing sin. We Thin gin. We Jazz June. We Die soon.

We recorded to document ourselves, not to sell a lot of records.

What I came back to is that jazz is a music to be played and not to be intellectualized on.

We're working as if it were going out of style-which of course it is.

What about a blues in W, in the key of W.

What are you going to do when you love music? You can't stop.

What I like is not a particular genre, it's storytelling. There's a lot of great storytelling in jazz, and in folk and in country music.

What I'm doing, I prefer to call that jazz, because it is a beautiful word - I love it.

What I'm dealing with is so vast and great that it can't be called the truth. It's above the truth.

Whenever there's a change with Jazz & its aesthetics, it's almost always reflected with a change in the culture.

What separates great jazz musicians from average ones is Taste. Those who have taste consistently choose notes, tempos, timbres and voicings that seduce and satisfy attentive listeners.

What we hear is the quality of our listening.

What kills me is that everybody thinks I like Jazz.