Miles Davis

You know why I quit playing ballads? Cause I love playing ballads.

So What or Kind of Blue were done in that era, the right hour, the right day. It’s over; it’s on the record.

Play what you know and then play above that.

Nothing is out of the question for me. I’m always thinking about creating. My future starts when I wake up in the morning and see the light…Then I’m grateful.

Music is an addiction.

[On Louis Armstrong] You can’t play nothing on modern trumpet that doesn’t come from him, not even modern shit. I can’t even remember a time when he sounded bad playing the trumpet. Never. Not even one time. He had great feeling up in his playing and he always played on the beat. I just loved the way he played and sang.

Hell is full of musical amateurs.

You’ve got to learn your instrument.

The guitar is just a wonderful instrument. It’s everything: a bartender, a psychiatrist, a housewife. It’s everything, but it’s elusive.

I’ve always wanted a C trumpet on top, to have that same kind of facility without shouting.

Art is a subject that is inundated with opinions. In fact, that’s all it is about is opinions.

When you listen to someone improvise, the notes that are played are only half the story.

It takes an intelligent ear to listen to Jazz.

Music is the most fantastic drug there is!

Sometimes it’s to your advantage for people to think you’re crazy.

I think Ive done the best I could have done. But I keep wanting to play better, go further. There are so many sounds I still want to make, so many things I havent yet done. When I was younger I thought maybe Id reached that peak. But Im 86 now, and if I make it through to next month, Ill be 87. And now I know it can never be perfect, it can never be exactly what it should be, so you got to keep going further, getting better.

My style is to just play. The more “live” you capture your music-the more unthought-out-the more magical it is.

By its very nature, no one person can ever be the center of Jazz.

I’ve sung a lot of emotional songs, but when you’re writing it’s very difficult to decide what to reveal.

Judy Garland was the singer I most wanted to sound like then, not to copy, but to get some of her soul and purity. A wonderful young voice.

I want people to walk away with the same joy, hope and love that I put into my music.