Miles Davis

Stop before you’re done.

To keep creating you have to be about change.

Bebop was about change, about evolution. It wasn’t about standing still and being safe.

I’ll play it first and tell you what it is afterwards.

For me, music and life are all about style

When you’re creating your own shit, even the sky ain’t the limit.

Play for the spiritual aspect, the emotion.

Even now, at 82 years old, if I don’t learn something every day, you know what I think? It’s a day lost. Now, I don’t practice every day. I just take the guitar, swear at it. But I should be swearing at myself. But I fool with music. I’m doing something musically all the time. And my ears are wide open for anything I can hear.

As long as musicians have passion for spontaneity and creating something that’s never been before, Jazz will flourish.

The greatest thing about music is putting it out there for people to figure out.

Tomorrow you’ll wish you had practiced harder today.

Don’t bullshit, just play.

When I speak of the gifted listener, I am thinking of the nonmusician primarily, of the listener who intends to retain his amateur status. It is the thought of just such a listener that excites the composer in me.

I love to hear the note sing.

My role as a drummer is as a team player to enhance what is going on around me.

New artists can own their content and completely build their base and their following without having to sell or be owned by anybody and it creates such a diversity.

This guitar is such a pal. It’s a psychiatrist. It’s a doggone bartender. It’s a housewife. This guy is everything. Whenever I find that I’ve got a problem, I’ll go pick my guitar up and play. It’s the greatest pal in the whole world.

You’re just as beautiful as you feel.

My fans are the best in the world! They’ve grown up with me and stayed with me through this entire journey.

The arranger doesn’t get any royalties, but I had so much fun doing it.

I kept thinking there’s bound to be something else? I could hear it sometimes, but I couldn’t play it.