Max Roach

In classical music, only two people are important, the composer and the conductor. Everybody else is a serf. In jazz, a thing of beauty is created collectively with everybody getting to express an idea. And that reflects what democratic society is – or should be.

Jazz is a democratic musical form. We take our respective instruments and collectively create a thing of beauty.

Jazz music is collective creativity.

Jazz music grabs you to the point where it never lets you go until the very last breath.

Monk encouraged me to emancipate the drums from their subservient role as timekeepers.

It was a great thrill to listen every night and hear him on NBC radio. Les played just as great then. And then later on, in the 1950s, Les Paul turned the whole world on to guitar. He’s just a terrific, flashy, tasty guitarist.

It’s not jazz as we know jazz here in America.

How do I know why Miles walks off the stage? Why don’t you ask him? And besides, maybe we’d all like to be like Miles, and just haven’t got the guts.

Jimmy (Wakely) told me, ‘I don’t want you to sound so much like Dinah Washington.’ So, I thought, ‘How can I get around this?’ And one of the people I really dug was Patti Page. So I thought, ‘Oh, I’m going to sound like her.’ I actually did with a couple curly-cues thrown in for effect, but, that’s how I started getting away from the predominant Dinah influence, and getting my own style together.

If you’re gonna sing meaningful songs, you have to be committed to living a life that backs that up.

[moving to Las Vegas] It was sort of like a man getting married – you don’t have to go out looking for girls, you’ve got your girl with you. I could go to casinos any time I had money and wanted to, so I actually went less.

Many people forget that Jazz, no matter what form it takes, must come from the heart as well as the mind.

A name doesn’t make the music. It’s just called that to differentiate it from other types of music.

There’s so much music out there and so many possibilities. I like anyone who plays any instrument.

You can’t go to the store and buy a good ear and rhythm.

Jazz is such a powerful cultural statement that it’s almost as if it’s intertwined with society.

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

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

Composers tend to assume that everyone loves music. Surprisingly enough, everyone doesn’t.

I don’t need words. It’s all in the phrasing.