Miles Davis

You should never be comfortable, man. Being comfortable fouled up a lot of musicians.

You know why I quit playing ballads? Cause I love playing ballads.

Jazz music has got to have that thing. You have to be born with it. You can’t even buy it. If you could buy it, they’d have it at the next Newport festival.

The thing to judge in any jazz artist is, does the man project and does he have ideas.

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

Stop before you’re done.

The more real you get, the more unreal everything else is.

To this day, I don’t like people walking on stage not looking good. You have to look good. If you feel special about yourself then you’re going to play special.

The Blues and Jazz will live forever. So will the Delta and the Big Easy.

I’m not really on a mission to tell anybody anything. I’d rather be figured out.

I never believed in a set routine. It should depend on how you feel, because you play what you feel.

Without jazz, life would be a mistake.

Music, of course, is what I hear and something that I more or less live by. It’s not an occupation or profession, it’s a compulsion.

I think when my brother (Claude who founded vocal sextet Take Six) got his deal and I saw him on the Grammys that was when I said, ‘oh, you know what? If he can do it then maybe I can do too’ and that’s when I really focused on trying to make it in this business.

Music washes away the dust of every day life.

I look for a deep, gutty feelin’ in a guitar tone. I don’t use picks. People ask, “How you get that?” It’s just there. There’s a lot of people try to play real fast chords-da da da da da-that ain’t the hard, solid blues. It’s synthetic. It has not feeling to it. You sit down and play some funky, funky guitar. Take your time! Don’t rush it. Just let it come flowing through you. I can play guitar so funky, it’ll bring teardrops to your eyes.

Typically I go in the studio and whatever I’m contemplating that day will wind up being a song. I don’t come in with lyrics… I just go in and let it happen.

I see my body as an instrument, rather than an ornament.

I still love the whole history of Jazz. The old things sound better than ever.

For a long time I wasn’t listening to music, to the rock and roll stuff on the radio, because it would cause me to get sweaty–it would bring back memories I didn’t want to know about, or I would get that feeling that I’m not alive ’cause I’m not making it. And if it was good, I hated it ’cause I wasn’t doing it. And if it was bad, I was furious ’cause I could’ve done it better…

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