Famous Jazz Quotes
                                                                                                                                                                            


BILL EVANS
"I believe in things that are developed through hard work. I always like people who have
developed long and hard, especially through introspection and a lot of dedication. I think what
they arrive at is usually a much deeper and more beautiful thing than the person who seems to have
that ability and fluidity from the beginning. I say this because it's a good message to give to young
talents who feel as I used to."


BRANFORD MARSALIS
"You know, being America, being the land of "number ones", everyone wants to be a
leader before they follow."


CHARLES MINGUS
"Anyone can make the simple complicated. Creativity is making the complicated simple."


CHARLIE PARKER
"Master your instrument, Master the music, and then forget all that and just play."


COUNT BASIE
"Well, if you find a note tonight that sounds good, play the same note every night!"


DIZZY GILLESPIE
"It's taken me all my life to learn what not to play."


DUKE ELLINGTON
"A goal is a dream with a finish line."

"Music is my mistress and she plays second fiddle to no one."

"I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues."

"The most important thing I look for in a musician is whether he knows how to listen."


ELLA FITZGERALD
"I stole everything that I heard, but mostly I stole from the horns."

GEORGE GERSHWIN
"Life is a lot like jazz. . . it's best when you improvise. . ."


HERBIE HANCOCK
"Life is not about finding our limitations, it?s about finding our infinity."


HORACE SILVER
"Jazz is not background music. You must concentrate upon it in order to get the most of it.
You must absorb most of it. The harmonies within the music can relax, soothe, relax, and uplift the
mind when you concentrate upon and absorb it. Jazz music stimulates the minds and uplifts the souls
of those who play it was well as of those who listen to immerse themselves in it. As the mind is
stimulated and the soul uplifted, this is eventually reflected in the body."


JACO PASTORIUS
"A chimpanzee could learn to do what I do physically. But it goes way beyond that.
When you play, you play life. "


JOHN COLTRANE
"I'm into scales right now."


"My music is the spiritual expression of what I am - my faith, my knowledge, my being …
When you begin to see the possibilities of music, you desire to do something really good for people, to
help humanity free itself from its hangups … I want to speak to their souls."


LOUIS ARMSTRONG
"Jazz is played from the heart. You can even live by it. Always love it."

"If I don't practice for a day, I know it. If I don't practice for two days, the critics know it.
And if I don't practice for three days, the public knows it."


MILES DAVIS
"I don't care if a dude is purple with green breath as long as he can swing."

"At least one day out of the year all musicans should just put their instruments down,
and give thanks to Duke Ellington."


ORNETTE COLEMAN
"Jazz is the only music in which the same note can be played night after night but differently each time."


OSCAR PETERSON
"We're not like pop musicians who have to perform the same top ten tunes every night of a tour."


ART BLAKEY
"Music washes away the dust of every day life"