Jazz Quotes

I'm not a jazz singer.

— Boz Scaggs

I want to stay with the Jazz.

— Rudy Gobert

Imitate, assimilate & innovate.

— Clark Terry

I find my inspiration in myself.

— Thelonious Monk

Music chooses her musicians.

— Patricia Barber

Jazz is rhythm and meaning.

— Henri Matisse

Let the music speak for itself.

— Roy Hargrove

You have to look good.

— Benny Goodman

I recorded my first jazz record in the '70s.

— Rita Coolidge

The Duke and Swing represent affirmation in the face of adversity.

— Wynton Marsalis

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

— John Lennon

Fortune ought to be a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master.

— Nat Hentoff

Possibly, I should have been a jazz singer from the beginning.

— Rita Coolidge

“On my John Coltrane. In a sentimental mood.”

— Brandi L. Bates

Well if I could play like Wynton, I wouldn't play like Wynton.

— Chet Baker

I never sing a song the same way twice.

— Billie Holiday

All art is communication of the artists' ideas, sounds, thoughts; without that no one will support the artist.

— Lionel Hampton

What I'm dealing with is so vast and great that it can't be called the truth. It's above the truth.

— Sun Ra

I want to play music that draws a picture of the world and its space.

— Jimi Hendrix

I am friends with the most amazing musicians that can do pop, rap, punk and jazz.

— Kenny Beats

Jazz is not something that can be defined through blunt instruments. It is much more poetic than that.

— Pat Metheny

I didn't really grow up on hip-hop. Ella Fitzgerald and the old school jazz divas are more my comfort zone.

— Gugu Mbatha-Raw

As jazz fans, it was amusing for us to play jazz harmonies on these big, ugly electric guitars.

— Donald Fagen

I'm a person of change and I must be honest to my artistry and my creativity. That's part of the word 'jazz'...…

— Maynard Ferguson

You can't just play a house set for four hours at the Sheraton. You have to be creative and throw in some…

— Mija

I really thought I was gonna have a straight gig. But these jazz musicians put their arms around me time and again…

— Kurt Elling

When they say 'jazz,' I'm thinking of a word called 'the creative process.' It intersects every vein and tributary, avenue, path, that…

— Wayne Shorter

New Orleans is a place where people are deliberately undereducated so that they can be a labour class - the economy there…

— Christian Scott

Dance has been a driving force in my life for 25 years. From music videos and hip hop, to jazz and musical…

— Anna Kaiser

When my father saw that I was interested in following such a career he had many reservations. His feeling was that there…

— Julian Bream

Thelma and I are excited to work with UMSL around our shared passion for jazz and education and make this initial investment…

— David Steward

If the average jazz artist uses his head and at the outset of his career realizes he won't play as well at…

— Oscar Peterson

I'm a basketball guy. No sitcom guy. I don't care about all that jazz. I care about basketball. It's not me. And…

— Dick Vitale

Gansey appeared beside Blue in the doorway. He shook his empty bottle at her. "Fair trade," he told her in a way…

— Maggie Stiefvater

From the small clubs of the Harlem Renaissance where he began playing saxophone to world tours for the biggest of the big…

— William J. Clinton

I grew up in a home filled with music and had an early appreciation of jazz since my dad was a jazz…

— Molly Ringwald

If they think they are doing something new, they ought to do what I do every day - spend at least two…

— Coleman Hawkins

I think The Doors are one of the classic groups, and I think we're all tempted to feel like the time in…

— Edgar Winter

I have a theory that musicians recognize each other and if they are destined to collaborate together they will. Mainly, they recognize…

— Vlatko Stefanovski

One ironic thing is that although (the Soviet Union) was one of the most oppressive systems, with no respect for the individual,…

— Gabe Polsky