Jazz Quotes · Page 34

That's the thing: There are so many art songs in jazz. It's a much more rich experience for the singer than people…

— Kurt Elling

“If you have to ask what jazz is you will never know." Louis Armstrong”

— Louis Armstrong

I listen to everything from jazz to reggae to heavy metal and I kind of combine everything to make something different

— Travis Barker

As for the way we play, we are as much like the Beatles as any American Jazz group is like any other.

— Dave Clark

So What or Kind of Blue were done in that era, the right hour, the right day. It's over; it's on the…

— Miles Davis

My novels and poems are meant to be read aloud. That's why jazz musicians have been able to adapt my stuff.

— Ishmael Reed

Yeah, it's more like playing what you think is appropriate for the moment, not forcing any particular style.

— Charlie Hunter

I became a jazz fan quite early and never went off the path thereafter.

— Ahmet Ertegun

I don't really get the same kinda romance that I would get from, like, jazz. And even to a lesser extent to…

— Lupe Fiasco

I used to tell my friends, 'Art Blakey is way more gangster than Eazy-E!' I ended up getting my friends into jazz,…

— Kamasi Washington

“There is a stillness between us, a period of restlessness that ties my stomach in a hangman’s noose. It is this same…

— Nathan Reese Maher

When I was a kid, some of the guys would try to get me to hate white people for what they've been…

— Thelonious Monk

Skiffle was blues featuring a washboard and acoustic instruments. It encompassed blues, with elements of folk, jazz, and, at times, American country-and-western…

— Van Morrison

Good jazz has been a big part of my life as far as my interest in music, and... It's kind of weird…

— Larry Gagosian

Louis Armstrong was the primary contributor to jazz music in the 20th century. His improvisational skills served as the principal model for…

— Ellis Marsalis, Jr

Louis Armstrong is quite simply the most important person in American music. He is to 20th century music (I did not say…

— Ken Burns

I was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and am a product of a family that were jazz aficionados and also very interested in…

— Jack Waters

Everything comes from one thing, everything comes from the Spirit. Jazz would not exist had it not been for gospel music, the…

— Ramsey Lewis

My first love in music was jazz, but I like it all," "I reacted emotionally to Art Blakey and, of course, to…

— Larry Carlton

Truth of the matter is, jazz is American music. And that doesn't mean bebop. Jazz is really about improvising. All the music…

— Jaimoe

The humor of jazz is rich and many-sided. Some of it is obvious enough to make a dog laugh. Some is subtle,…

— Bix Beiderbecke

I had a hole in my voice. It's an area in the voice where it's air. It's just - there's no -…

— Cecile McLorin Salvant

Jazz is musical humor. The noun jazz describes a modern American technique for the playing of any music, accompanied by noise called…

— Bix Beiderbecke

“Everywhere was the atmosphere of a long debauch that had to end; the orchestras played too fast, the stakes were too high…

— Malcolm Cowley

What makes bebop legitimate is the fact that when it was done, it was illegitimate.

— Matthew Shipp

What I wanted to do was music, until I was about 16. But it was jazz and rock, never classical music.

— Simon Helberg

I am not a jazz singer. I wouldn't place myself on that footing. I wouldn't even enter that arena.

— Boz Scaggs

Regardless of what you play, the biggest thing is keeping the feel going.

— Wes Montgomery

What I came back to is that jazz is a music to be played and not to be intellectualized on.

— Gerry Mulligan

All a musician can do is to get closer to the sources of nature, and so feel that he is in communion…

— John Coltrane

To me, jazz is the closest thing to insanity that there is in music.

— Anonymous

Records used to be documents, but now record companies want product.

— Stan Getz

“Jazz is the only lever used by all the riffraff of Tram 83 to switch social class as one would subway cars.”

— Fiston Mwanza Mujila

jazz is the expression of America's romantic self, its sensual potency, its lyrical force.

— Anais Nin

You can't teach it [jazz singing]. There's nobody who can teach you how to sing jazz. Either you know how to sing…

— Tony Bennett

Jazz, like leadership, combines the unpredictability of the future with the gifts of individuals.

— Max De Pree

Jazz was born out of the whiskey bottle, was raised on marijiana, and will expire on cocaine.

— Artie Shaw

In a lot of ways, Metallica is like a fusion band. It's not necessarily jazz or any of that, but the music…

— Robert Trujillo

The whole basis of my singing is feeling. Unless I feel something, I can't sing.

— Billie Holiday

I love good rock'n'roll, blues and jazz, gospel, and a little reggae.

— Jerry Hall