Jazz Quotes · Page 49

Historians in the future, in my opinion, will congratulate us on very little other than our clowning and our jazz.

— Kurt Vonnegut

Can anybody be given creativity? No. Only equipment to develop it if it's in them in the first place.

— George Shearing

It's a mystery to me why everybody doesn't love jazz. I've never been able to figure that out.

— Walter Becker

Jazz today, as always in the past, is a matter of thoughtful creation, not mere unaided instinct.

— Duke Ellington

A note can be as small as a pin or as big as the world, it depends on your imagination.

— Thelonious Monk

Jazz is such a powerful cultural statement that it's almost as if it's intertwined with society.

— Tom Harrell

I don't think theater is dying, and musicals are a great American art form. We've got apple pie, jazz and musical theater.

— Laura Benanti

I was a jazz drummer, and it was my life for a while: what I lived and breathed every day.

— Damien Chazelle

I dabble in the jazz world, which is male-­dominated. If you had two women playing together, it became a shtick. It becomes…

— Meshell Ndegeocello

I closed my own jazz bar so I could be a man who can write novels as I like. I was pleased…

— Haruki Murakami

My training in music has been very eclectic - as first a flute player from classical chamber music to jazz, Greek, Brazilian…

— Alexandre Desplat

In Berkley, they have academic studies on all genres of music including rock and jazz, but in India, we don't have serious…

— Rajiv Menon

One very important thing I learned from Monk was his complete dedication to music. That was his reason for being alive. Nothing…

— Sonny Rollins

Everybody's not going to like jazz, let's just be honest about it. Everybody doesn't like everything. There's a disconnect in generations and…

— Robert Glasper

Jazz songs have always been quite literal because many of them are taken from musical theater and you only have a couple…

— Laufey

The first jazz cruise that I was on was '91. I played with Maria Schneider and John Fedchock's band. Got to meet…

— Jon Gordon

When I and the other young artists were working in comics, our work carried with it a particularly American slant. After all,…

— Joe Simon

There are great jazz educators that I meet all the time. I met a guy named Paul Luchessi who has a high…

— Jon Gordon

Yes, I started piano and classical singing, I wanted to study jazz, but I tried to go to the Polish University of…

— Joanna Kulig

Because the blues is the basis of most American music in the 20th century. It's a 12-bar form that's played by jazz,…

— Wynton Marsalis

I've always felt that most jazz artists don't need producers .. most jazz artists know what kind of sound they want. They…

— Christian McBride

I definitely get my artistry and my vocal talent from my mother and mother's side. She sang in a jazz trio band…

— Zella Day

What we know about the destination resort business is clearly established. But it's all about one thing, and one thing only. All…

— Steve Wynn

I spent five years, at least, working with Miles. Together, we recorded ESP, Nefertiti, Sorcerer -- and I can tell you; each…

— Herbie Hancock

Dizzy used to tell me I'm playing too hard. He'd say to not give everything. Miles told me that too.

— Freddie Hubbard

Salsa, classic rock, soul music, jazz... all of that was a part of my education in making hip-hop music.

— Aloe Blacc

I'm into the old school. I listen to rock, soft rock, jazz, old school R&B.

— Biz Markie

When there's an imbalance in terms of what people get to hear, then that's negative. Then blues, jazz, it will die.

— Gregory Porter

I was in band all the way through high school, and I played in jazz competitions all across Iowa.

— Joey Jordison

I thought, If I'm gonna run a jazz club, if I've got Miles Davis' posters in my bar, I should at least…

— Oprah Winfrey

The first time I heard a professional jazz quartet practicing in a house down the street it was almost like an out-of-body…

— Philip Bailey

New Orleans is gumbo. You get so man types of things... jazz, folk, Zydeco.

— Luke James

Giving jazz the Congressional seal of approval is a little like making Huck Finn an honorary Boy Scout.

— Melvin Maddocks

Wynton Marsalis' skills have grown as fast as his ambition, and he is the most ambitious younger composer in Jazz.

— Jon Pareles

I don't know who's 18 years old today that, 20 years hence, is going to be a jazz fan.

— Norman Granz

Whenever there's a change with Jazz & its aesthetics, it's almost always reflected with a change in the culture.

— Tom Harrell

I got more publicity for not doing a festival than for doing the festival.

— George Wein

I played in school jazz bands and tried to start rock bands, but nobody was interested.

— Courtney Barnett

I love the sounds of Latin jazz, R&B, hip-hop, alternative, all that stuff. I'm a radio kid.

— Mario Vazquez

I'm a jazz musician, and I really wanted to not miss an opportunity to have the full connection to jazz.

— Kurt Elling