Wynton Marsalis

Don’t settle for style. Succeed in substance.

Find the best teachers, listen to the finest playing and try to emulate that. Be true to the music.

In Jazz, improvisation isn’t a matter of just making any ol’ thing up. Jazz, like any language, has its own grammer and vocabulary. There’s no right or wrong, just some choices that are better than others.

Don’t bullshit, just play.

I wanted to make somebody feel like Coltrane made me feel.

Nothing else will ever capture the democratic process in sound as perfectly as Jazz.

Don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there.

I try stuff. I synthesize what’s of value with some of the other things I have at my disposal.

My audience was my life. What I did and how I did it was all for my audience.

[Stratocaster vs Les Paul] It’s a totally different animal. One is for very subtle and, I would say, more musical things that you can distract and abuse. You can’t do that with a Les Paul. It’s too delicate. It’s got a very delicate tone; most people don’t ever realize that because they are plugged into monstrous amplifiers which completely, instantaneously covers up the unique sound quality it has. All those years of development go straight out the window when you overload the amp.

I’m meant to be an artist who can stand on my own. That’s my place; that’s what I’m supposed to do.

Jazz musicians have some outlaw in them somewhere.

Through Dizzy and Bird I began to learn about musical structures and the more theoretical aspects of music.

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

Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.

I always try to teach by example and not force my ideas on a young musician. One of the reasons we’re here is to be a part of this process of exchange.

Music making is the most joyful activity possible, the most perfect expression of any emotion.

There’s a spiritual satisfaction that one gets from listening and playing good Jazz.

May your heart always be joyful. May your song always be sung.

I hate to think of Jazz as black and white, something political.

If you feel like tapping your feet, tap your feet. If you feel like clapping your hands, clap your hands. And if you feel like taking off your shoes, take off your shoes. We are here to have a ball. So we want you to leave your worldly troubles outside and come in here and swing.