If I’m going to sing like someone else, then I don’t need to sing at all.
I know what I’ve done for music, but don’t call me a legend. Just call me Miles Davis.
One very important thing I learned from Monk was his complete dedication to music. That was his reason for being alive. Nothing else mattered except music, really.
If a player is pushing their ability, a certain amount of failure is inevitable. Maybe even desirable.
If you want to make money in music, get into the band uniform business.
A Jazz musician is supposed to find his voice, find his niche and do his thing.
I used to play – when I first started trying to be professional, I disk jockey from 1949 to 1955 in Memphis, Tennessee, and I was quite popular there as a disk jockey.
Improvising musicians are musical travelers, voyagers. There is a freedom to wander the musical landscape.
What does music mean to you? What would you do without music?
I’ve said that playing the blues is like having to be black twice. Stevie Ray Vaughan missed on both counts, but I never noticed.
I never really thought about becoming a professional musician.
End phrases where you feel they should end. Don’t look for resolutions you don’t feel because the books call for them.
I learned my songs from the birds of the Brazilian forest.
Jazz music is a special skill that has brought pleasure to millions throughout the world.
What we play is life.
We may not be changing the world dramatically, but we’re improving it one note at a time.
Jazz – it takes passion to make it happen!
You can have the greatest player in terms of mastering an instrument and be yawning your head off.
The real innovators did their innovating by just being themselves.
If you feel like tapping your feet, tap your feet.
I am inclined to just write music and not worry about what people can or can’t do.
