Wynton Marsalis

A musician's whole life is to listen.

— Wynton Marsalis

Let the critics criticize and let the doers do.

— Wynton Marsalis

Jazz is democracy in music.

— Wynton Marsalis

Don't settle for style. Succeed in substance.

— Wynton Marsalis

A beat is a moment in the life a groove.

— Wynton Marsalis

Thank the good Lord for a job.

— Wynton Marsalis

When people dress well, they play well.

— Wynton Marsalis

Those who play for applause…Tha t’s all they get.

— Wynton Marsalis

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

— Wynton Marsalis

“It’s hard to be prejudiced against someone you love.”

— Wynton Marsalis

Whenever you face a man who's playing your instrument, there's a competition.

— Wynton Marsalis

If you looked around, you'd be glad you couldn't see.

— Wynton Marsalis

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

— Wynton Marsalis

We no longer want to be a melting pot, because we don't understand what is already melted.

— Wynton Marsalis

Humility is the doorway 2 truth & clarity of objectives... it's the doorway 2 learning.

— Wynton Marsalis

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

— Wynton Marsalis

“The best musicians know this music isn't about "schools" at all. Like my father says, "There's only one school, the school of…

— Wynton Marsalis

My mother always took my brothers and me to music lessons. There were six children. Our parents attended our concerts and encouraged…

— Wynton Marsalis

The blues is always there. It's going to be hard out here, but it's all right. It's all right, and that's what…

— Wynton Marsalis

Instead of imposing your will on every situation...focus on including everyone else, and just that little adjustment of attitude gives you the…

— Wynton Marsalis

Trumpet players see each other, and it's like we're getting ready to square off or get into a fight or something.

— Wynton Marsalis

Duke Ellington always had a style: original, clean with interesting color combinations. He had an artist's eye.

— Wynton Marsalis

Flexibility is an essential part of Jazz. It's what gives Jazz music the ability to combine with all other types of music…

— Wynton Marsalis

Grace Kelly plays with intelligence, wit and feeling. She has a great amount of natural ability and the ability to adapt. That…

— Wynton Marsalis

Even if nobody's singing, just when you talk, you're singing. I'll meet somebody and say, "Oh, I'm tone-deaf." I say, "You're not…

— Wynton Marsalis

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 grew up in the South, and our way of dealing with each other was teasing, ribbing, making fun and scrapping in…

— Wynton Marsalis

The fact that we are culturally ignorant and we don't know what our heritage is, the price that we pay is that…

— Wynton Marsalis

But you listen to Coltrane and that's something human, something that's about elevation. It's like making love to a woman. It's about…

— Wynton Marsalis

People have taken time out of their day and spent their money to come sit down at a concert. And it's jazz…

— Wynton Marsalis

I remember when I wrote a piece, "Blood on the Fields," it was a while ago, it was about slavery and about…

— Wynton Marsalis

The majority of the high schools and the public schools in N.Y.C. don't even have band programs. Hip-hop in a lot of…

— Wynton Marsalis

When I came to New York, to Brooklyn, I met Alvin Ailey and Stanley Crouch and August Wilson. They were always putting…

— Wynton Marsalis

As you get older - for example, in our band we have members of our orchestra, like Carlos Enriquez and Ali Jackson…

— Wynton Marsalis

“And the thing about jazz, through all the business involved in practicing and improvement, it's always sweet: the improvement that you notice…

— 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

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

I hope it might help players have confidence in our own ways, and not to be afraid of them, as Bernstein showed…

— Wynton Marsalis

I get so much from having the opportunity to interface with the younger people and to bring information to them and to…

— 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