Charles Mingus

Most of the soloists at Birdland had to wait for Parker’s next record in order to find out what to play next. What will they do now?

Anyone can make the simple complicated. Creativity is making the complicated simple.

I always wanted to be a spontaneous composer.

I’m too busy playing. When I’m playing I don’t pay attention to who’s listening. When I was listening I listened to symphony orchestras, Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Stravinsky. You don’t listen to one instrument; you listen to music.

Jazz music is a language of the emotions.

Creativity is more than just being different. Anybody can plan weird; that’s easy. What’s hard is to be as simple as Bach. Anyone can make the simple complicated. Creativity is making the complicated simple.

The audience, they’re not professionals. They just love music. It isn’t necessary to play over their heads to be admired.

There are a million good tunes.

To me, the guitar cuts through. It carries more than the organ, but the organ has got more guts.

I’m believe that all people are in possession of what might be called a ‘universal musical mind.’

Jazz attracted me because in it I found a formal perfection and instrumental precision I admire in classical music, but which popular music doesn’t have.

The human being receives the pleasure from music, not from the argument over what it is.

What I look for in concert is a connection with the audience.

I’m famous… ain’t that a bitch?

It’s part of what the blues does, to write about these things. JB Lenoir was the main one in this regard – he wrote about Korea, too, in fact. Songs that reflect these current situations – in his case, racial issues for the most part: in my case, what has happened to me, and I was in Korea.

Lionel Richie told me forget about the critics. But if you come back with hit after hit, you don’t have to worry about anything.

I am very aware that so little has happened to the electric guitar from the time that it was conceived to now; where there are so little changes made where there should be drastic changes made. If we were to put our heads together and start thinking about modern technology we would be much more advantaged with the electric guitar than we are. I think that we’ve been stagnant for many years.

And if I had a preference, it would be to be able to not be in the studio until 4 in the morning.

Jazz is the most fun you can have with your clothes on.

Live music is best! Make plans to get out and support your local Jazz scene.

If you dig it, do it. If you dig it a lot, do it again.