Wynton Marsalis

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

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

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.

A beat is a moment in the life a groove.

Don’t settle for style. Succeed in substance.

No one is original. Everyone is derivative.

The minute I stop singing orally, I start to sing by playing Lucille.

All I play is truth and emotion.

You’ve got to be willing to put stuff on the line, otherwise it doesn’t have much meaning.

Music’s a good thing, it calm the beast in the man.

I don’t compose. I assemble materials.

If you’re gonna sing meaningful songs, you have to be committed to living a life that backs that up.

Jazz musician is a combination entertainer, poet, singer, educator, student, artist, seducer and all-round good fellow.

You can’t copy anybody and end with anything. If you copy, it means you’re working without any real feeling.

The guitar and the dog, in order not to be separated from man, have submitted themselves with resignation to the worst alterations of size and appearance.

Each time I have the opportunity to play, it’s another chance to tell the truth.

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

As a little kid, blues meant hope, excitement, pure emotion. Blues were about feelings. They seem to bring out the feelings of the artist and they brought out my feelings as a kid. They made me wanna move, or sing, or pick up Reverend’s guitar and figure out how to make those wonderful sounds.

Playing ‘bop’ is like playing Scrabble with all the vowels missing.

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.