Chet Baker

Well if I could play like Wynton Marsalis, I wouldn’t play like Wynton.

Well if I could play like Wynton, I wouldn’t play like Wynton.

He almost adds a Chet-like sound to it.

The drummer; he inspired me to play like no one else I have ever met.

What a guy, what a fool am I, to think my breaking heart could kid the moon.

In Europe they look upon jazz as art. In America it’s a diversion. Somebody opens a restaurant and installs another band off to the side. People don’t listen.

Most jazz players work out their solos, at least to the extent that they have a very specific vocabulary.

If you have something to say of any worth then people will listen to you.

I don’t really live like a musician myself. I think music is just something that I do, but I’d like to be doing lots of other things. I like to cure all kinds of illness.

Music must be an innovation.

However it goes, I’ll just keep playing. That’s where the basic satisfaction is at.

In the world of Art there are no wrong choices.

Whenever I fill out the job description I put ‘songwriter’, never ‘singer’ or ‘artist.’ Singers come and go.

You have to practice improvisation, let no one kid you about it!

There’s a sadness to all kinds of music if you want to hear it. There’s also happiness to it if you want to hear it.

A beat is a moment in the life a groove.

I know what I’ve done for music, but don’t call me a legend. Just call me Miles Davis.

A wise man practices slowly; but a wiser man practices even slower.

Instrumental music is increasingly marginalized.

For years the Trio did nothing but play for musicians and other hip people. We practically starved to death.

To play without passion is inexcusable.