Miles Davis

I can tell whether a person can play just by the way he stands.

Always look ahead, but never look back.

Do not fear mistakes, there are none.

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 and life are all about style.

I can tell whether a person can play just by the way he stands …If they act too hip, you know they can’t play shit.

I do Jazz, Blues, Country and so forth. I do them all like a good utility man.

Jazz was born out of the whiskey bottle, was raised on marijuana, and will expire on cocaine.

A great thing about being a musician is you don’t stop until the day you die.

I sing to the realists; people who accept it like it is.

Jazz music has become academic. Sometimes that doesn’t feel right to me.

I asked my mother could I have an instrument. She said, ‘Well if you go out and save your money.’ So I went and got – I made me a shine box. I went out and started shining shoes, and I’d bring whatever I made.

Blues is a tonic for whatever ails you. I could play the blues and then not be blue anymore.

[Ben Taylor] He is an interesting combination of the two of us. His voice box is more like mine but the way his tongue sits in his mouth, and the way he pronounces words, is just like James Taylor.

It’s a matter of who would be right for each song. Mickey Hart for ‘All We Need is An Island’ – he’s the only guy I know who has Tahitian drums and every kind of drum on the planet.

I’ve always depended upon my own melodic instinct, instead of scale like formulas.

Jazz isn’t a what, it’s a how.

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.

Improvising musicians are musical travelers, voyagers. There is a freedom to wander the musical landscape.

Just to keep it interesting I’ll tune the guitar randomly, so I don’t know what’s going to come out.

You can’t sing about love unless you know about it.