Wynton Marsalis

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.

Jazz music is the power of now.

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 settle for style. Succeed in substance.

Of course there are a lot of ways you can treat the blues, but it will still be the blues.

I stole everything I ever heard, but mostly I stole from the horns.

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

I like chords that are very lush with all the lush parts taken out.

What have I got? No looks, no money, no education… just talent.

Your ear is the final judge to what sounds right and what sounds wrong.

[on Ornette Coleman] Man, that cat is nuts!

I always think of music as interior decoration. So, if you have all kinds of music, you are fully decorated!

I felt like I was making a record under the radar, and that is my favorite way to do anything.

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

There are no natural barriers. It’s all music.

I’m not going to change the way I look or the way I feel to conform to anything. I’ve always been a freak. So I’ve been a freak all my life and I have to live with that, you know. I’m one of those people.

Monk taught me more about music composition than anyone else on 52nd Street.

I’m not thinking about what needs to be on the radio. I’m not thinking about anything other than – I’m just going to let this music come out of me and not have any sort of preconceived notion of what I should do. I’m just going to do it.

I really feel like I made it a great record. I really feel good about it. In this day and age to make a record that you say, ‘This is different,’ that’s a tough nut. I did it by accident but it got done. I don’t know what I’m doing, but I know how to do it.