Jazz Quotes by Wynton Marsalis

“it ain't as hard as picking cotton”

— wynton marsalis

Sustained intensity equals ecstacy.

— Wynton Marsalis

The bandstand is a sacred place.

— Wynton Marsalis

Jazz music is the power of now.

— Wynton Marsalis

Jazz music creates so many phenomenal figures.

— Wynton Marsalis

Don't bullshit' just play.

— Wynton Marsalis

A beat is a moment in the life a groove.

— Wynton Marsalis

Jazz is democracy in music.

— Wynton Marsalis

Trumpet players are just belligerant, and cocky, and you know, just hard-headed.

— Wynton Marsalis

Louis Armstrong is jazz. He represents what the music is all about.

— Wynton Marsalis

This is our bandstand. If you don't want to play, get up off the instrument and leave.

— Wynton Marsalis

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

— Wynton Marsalis

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

— Wynton Marsalis

There's so much spirit of integration and democracy in jazz.

— Wynton Marsalis

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 a jazz musician, you have individual power to create the sound. You also have a responsibility to function in the context…

— Wynton Marsalis

Through improvisation, jazz teaches you about yourself. And through swing, it teaches you that other people are individuals too. It teaches you…

— Wynton Marsalis

Some stances are just conducive to swinging. If I stand up straight for too long it's harder to swing. Plus my feet…

— Wynton Marsalis

Blues is like the roux in a gumbo. People ask me if jazz always has the blues in it. I say, if…

— 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…

— Wynton Marsalis

And that's the soulful thing about playing: you offer something to somebody. You don't know if they'll like it, but you offer…

— Wynton Marsalis

The reason why the music [jazz] is important is because it's an art form-an ancient art form-that takes in the mythology of…

— Wynton Marsalis

Jazz music is America's past and its potential, summed up and sanctified and accessible to anybody who learns to listen to, feel,…

— Wynton Marsalis

The history of jazz lets us know that this period in our history is not the only period we've come through together.…

— Wynton Marsalis

How great musicians demonstrate a mutual respect and trust on the bandstand can alter your outlook on the world and enrich every…

— Wynton Marsalis

Certain music, jazz in particular, has the ability to make you a better citizen of the world. It helps you expand your…

— Wynton Marsalis

When I did the Abyssinian mass, I went through the whole history of the church music and the gospel music, even with…

— Wynton Marsalis

When those who are educated using their education to exploit those who aren't. That's what the sub-prime scandal represents - people of…

— Wynton Marsalis

To say that the Afro American created jazz doesn't mean anything bad about Anglo Americans, and I always teach my younger jazz…

— Wynton Marsalis

Jazz music celebrates life! Human life; the range of it, the absurdity of it, the ignorance of it, the greatness of it,…

— Wynton Marsalis

I worry more about the marketing that's taken hold since the 70s. The Jazz era, the Swing era, those were huge. Entire…

— Wynton Marsalis

“The thing in jazz that will get Bix Beiderbecke out of his bed at two o’clock in the morning, pick that cornet…

— Wynton Marsalis

As long as there is democracy, there will be people wanting to play jazz because nothing else will ever so perfectly capture…

— Wynton Marsalis

It's harder to build than destroy. To build is to engage and change. In jazz, we call progressing harmonies changes. Changes are…

— Wynton Marsalis

“I noticed that religion gave some people a way to escape dealing with the world: “Things will be better when you die,”…

— Wynton Marsalis

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

My father was a teacher, my mama was a community worker, I taught in so many schools. So when you get that…

— Wynton Marsalis

“Today you go into make a modern recording with all this technology. The bass plays first, then the drums come in later,…

— Wynton Marsalis

I think that virtuosity is the first sign of morality in a musician. It means you're serious enough to practice.

— Wynton Marsalis

The first jazz musician was a trumpeter, Buddy Bolden, and the last will be a trumpeter, the archangel Gabriel.

— Wynton Marsalis