Jazz Quotes · Page 41

Other than conversation, no other art form can give the satisfaction of spontaneous interaction like Jazz.

— Stan Getz

You need better technique than I have to play jazz, but what you have to do is the same thing, isn't it?

— Charlie Watts

Miles Davis was doing something inherently African, something that has to do with all forms of American music, not just jazz.

— Cassandra Wilson

My father's rich, my momma's good looking. Right? And I can play the Blues. I've never suffered and don't intend to suffer.

— Miles Davis

In Europe, they like everything you do. The mistakes and everything. That's a little bit too much.

— Miles Davis

My sister loved country music. My mother loved Spanish music. And my dad was into big band music and jazz.

— Hope Sandoval

“I don't get jazz. It always sounds like a bunch of toddlers let loose in a music room.”

— Libba Bray

Musicians have to suffer to a certain degree in order to obtain their outlet.

— Chico Hamilton

I was really a nerd, and I was really more of a jazz nerd. So when I had my chance to put…

— Robert Glasper

He sounded to me like he's supposed to be the savior of jazz. Sometimes people speak as though someone asked them a…

— Miles Davis

I think we as a band, as individuals, understand that all popular music stems from blues and jazz and even pop, but…

— David Johansen

I never even thought about whether or not they understand what I'm doing . . . the emotional reaction is all that…

— John Coltrane

One thing that sticks in my mind is that jazz means freedom and openness. It's a music that, although it developed out…

— Herbie Hancock

Whether I do jazz or R&B, there are always complaints. I would just listen to the complaints about what I do instead…

— Ledisi

My brothers came home with country, jazz, everything... it was always very normal to me to make any type of music. It…

— Labrinth

Many an American jazz musician has been beguiled by the lush melodies and sumptuous rhythms of Brazilian music, but Peter Sprague has…

— Andrew S. Gilbert

I love Ray Charles. He can still teach everybody a lot about how to make great music. Not necessarily how to make…

— Ahmet Ertegun

I once took a ride to the beach in L.A., and all along the shore there were all these so-called jazz places.…

— Jeff Buckley

I remember the first time I was booked into a jazz club. I was scared to death. I'm not a jazz artist.…

— Richie Havens

Jazz celebrates older generations and not just the youth movement. When you "sell" only to people of a certain age, you get…

— Wynton Marsalis

As more people get into indie bands and alternative music, they're also getting more into other genres that fit those categories, like…

— Hilary Hahn

You put music in categories because you need to define a sound, but when you don't play it on your so-called radio…

— Afrika Bambaataa

It doesn't matter if it's jazz or not. It's about how we listen, how we interact, how we guide our attention when…

— Vijay Iyer

He [Benny Carter] is all that every jazz musician the world over wants to be. He's performed 20,000 nights. How many shoes…

— Wynton Marsalis

Life on the road is murder. It's as though life begins and ends when you have your horn in your mouth.

— Gerry Mulligan

There is a modern take on certain things you can do that, to me, is still jazz.

— Robert Glasper

I wish you wouldn't make the strings such an important part of your arrangements because frankly they're only a tax dodge!

— Tommy Dorsey

Say That! is an iron fist upside the mushy head of smooth jazz, and Grant Geissman's defiant declaration of independence.

— Bill Milkowski

Technically, I'm not a guitar player, all I play is truth and emotion.

— Jimi Hendrix

Learn to play the piano, man, and then you can figure out crazy solos of your own.

— Dizzy Gillespie

It's something that jazz has gotten away from, and it's unfortunate. Players aren't physical anymore.

— Branford Marsalis

I never liked jazz or anything else. Early rock n' roll - that was music to me. Everything else was boring.

— Lemmy

“I'm eclectic,' she said to the HDs once and I could see them trying to work out where she plugged in.”

— Cath Crowley

The strange thing about Africa is how past, present and future come together in a kind of rough jazz, if you like.

— Ben Okri

I think more than writers, the major influences on me have been European movies, jazz, and Abstract Expressionism.

— Don DeLillo

An artist should write for himself & not for an audience. If the audience likes it, great. If not, they can keep away.

— Artie Shaw

Souljazz doesn't reinvent soul, jazz or the fusion thereof, but it plays all of the above with the passion that drove its…

— Anthony Fantano

My vocal influences are a lot of jazz singers: Billie Holiday, Julie London, they had this tenderness to their voice.

— Borns

“I’m always thinking about creating. My future starts when I wake up in the morning and see the light.”

— Miles Davis

[Jazz musicians] couldn't cut rock. I had to be more limited and specific about what I was doing.

— Van Morrison