Wynton Marsalis

A beat is a moment in the life a groove.

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

Music does not come to you. You have to come to it and you’ll walk away with something you didn’t have before.

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

Don’t settle for style. Succeed in substance.

Jazz music is the power of now.

The Blues contain so much joy and sadness at the same time.

When Bird came on the scene, it was shocking as in the Bible: everything was dark and then there was light.

This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.

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.

A good bassist determines the direction of any band.

Genius is a word too often tossed around in musical circles.

I find my inspiration in myself.

I never heard of a Jazz musician who retired. You love what you do, so what are you going to do… play for the walls?

A Jazz musician is supposed to find his voice, find his niche and do his thing.

People always ask, “Why jazz?” and I’m like “Why not?” It’s kind of like asking Seurat, “Why so many dots?” I imagine if you asked Bjork, “Why the Tibetan bells?” She’d probably be like “That’s just what I heard.” It’s the same thing. This is just the way I see music.

Do it again on the next verse and people think you meant it.

The reward for playing Jazz is playing Jazz.

Mozart tapped the source from which all music flows, expressing himself with a spontaneity and refinement and breathtaking rightness.

Jazz is so incestuous that it’s starting to kill itself.

I don’t consider myself a musician who has achieved perfection and can’t develop any further.