Best 709 quotes in «jazz quotes» category

Damn it, when I'm bombastic, I have my reasons. I want to be bombastic-take it or leave it.

Day in, day out. That same old voodoo follows me about.

Dizzy, Duke and Charlie Parker were the greatest jazz legends of all time.

Diana Krall knocks me out. I like jazz and I like her simple approach.

Diplomacy is like jazz: endless variations on a theme.

Don't be a perfectionist... leave that to the classical musicians.

[David] Bowie went on to make best-selling music - funk, dance music, electronic music, while also being influenced by cabaret and jazz.

Don't believe that jazz about there's nothing you can do, "turn on and drop out, man" - because you've got to turn on and drop in, or they're going to drop all over you.

Everybody came. Everybody came to the Cotton Club.

Everybody in all countries tries to play jazz.

Don t play this piece fast. It is never right to play ragtime fast.

Everything-everything-was communicated through the sound of the music. There were no other signals of any kind ever-no count-offs, head nods, spoken instructions...nothing.

Europeans really provided many venues over there and hailed the jazz artists, and a lot of musicians went over there and stayed over there for a long time. A lot of them moved over there, lived over there, and died over there.

Every day when I sit down to play, I learn something new.

Everything I've ever done was out of fear of being mediocre.

For me jazz is kind of an extension of hip-hop. Kind of the sad thing is that a lot of jazz people just listen to jazz, and a lot of hip-hop people just listen to hip-hop, and there's not a lot of crossover, unfortunately.

External instruments are only extensions of the biological instrument.

Flexibility is an essential part of Jazz. It's what gives Jazz music the ability to combine with all other types of music and not lose its identity.

For me, jazz will always be the soundtrack of the civil rights movement.

Fortune ought to be a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master.

For years, Jazz At The Philharmonic albums were the only ones of their kind.

For me, the main thing is spontaneity & taking chances.

Frankie Randall is a consummate performer. He is an exquisite jazz pianist and wonderful singer. I had the great pleasure to work with him on the Dean Martin Show and I'm very proud to call him a friend!

For me personally - because I do it myself - the scoring of a picture is fun. I edit the picture and when I've finished I go into my room and I have many many records - jazz, classical and popular music. And I have this all at my disposal. I don't have to get a composer.

Fusion has been my nemesis.

Free form jazz means absolutely nothing to me. Because there are no boundaries.

Genius is a word too often tossed around in musical circles.

Growing up, I was very much interested in jazz music.

Gospel music rhythms are not African in origin, although I know that's what the jazz experts say.

Here in England we live at a slower pace, have more time to enjoy things - like good jazz.

He didn't say nothing. He would just do things. He never said nothing or explained nothing. He just would do it and that was it. You were on your own. You had to be very independent being around John [Coltrane].

He sounded to me like he's supposed to be the savior of jazz. Sometimes people speak as though someone asked them a question. Well, no one asked him a question.

He's no Bill Clinton!

He would forget everybody's name, so everybody was called 'Pops'.

How do I know why Miles walks off the stage? Why don't you ask him? And besides, maybe we'd all like to be like Miles, and just haven't got the guts.

Historians in the future, in my opinion, will congratulate us on very little other than our clowning and our jazz.

[Goodman] became famous (or notorious) for staring at a player he didn't like. It was called 'the ray' by his men.

I always say it's not my Arkestra, it belongs to some other force which wants certain things, to reach people.

I actually find a lot of parallels in jazz and cartooning.

I always think of music as interior decoration. So, if you have all kinds of music, you are fully decorated!

I am a complete jazz nerd.

I am famous because I am an African American jazz artist.

I am viewed as the Negro who has gone outside of the categories assigned to me.

I always called him the Dizzy Dean of music, he was so belligerent and braggadocio... But one thing I always noticed about Jelly, he would back everything he said by what he could do.

I always wanted to be a spontaneous composer.

I am a musician, but I'm another type of musician.

I can show you that I have played with just about every jazz musician, every African musician, every blues musician. It's not like I'm cashing in on a false concept. This is what I do.

I am not a jazz singer. I wouldn't place myself on that footing. I wouldn't even enter that arena.

I can tell whether a person can play just by the way he stands.

I can imagine an utter hatred for the jazz avant-garde.