Jazz Quotes · Page 35

Improvising musicians are musical travelers, voyagers. There is a freedom to wander the musical landscape.

— Gary Burton

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

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

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

— Chico Hamilton

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

— Gerry Mulligan

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

— Cassandra Wilson

My folks have played everything from rock, disco, pop, funk, and blues. My dad has always brought and played different genres like…

— Haley Reinhart

It's a weird thing where, especially in jazz, you have to totally mention cutting sessions and people one-upping each other and people…

— Damien Chazelle

My father is a jazz musician, so I grew up hearing jazz. My parents loved it, but I didn't like it. It…

— Wynton Marsalis

What I like is not a particular genre, it's storytelling. There's a lot of great storytelling in jazz, and in folk and…

— Lizz Wright

Improvisation in the jazz sense - like the business sense - is not formless. It is built on a skill set. Jazz,…

— John Kao

From blood banking to the modern subway, from jazz to social justice, the contributions of African Americans have shaped and molded and…

— Bill Frist

Anything you are shows up in your music - jazz is whatever you are, playing yourself, being yourself, letting your thoughts come…

— Mary Lou Williams

My greatest teacher was not a vocal coach, not the work of other singers, but the way Tommy Dorsey breathed and phrased…

— Frank Sinatra

I, myself, came to enjoy the players who didn't only just swing but who invented new rhythmic patterns, along with new melodic…

— Charles Mingus

Big band music, to me, it really has three key elements. First is the lyrics are really sweet, and they're just really…

— John Tesh

I listen to all those kinds of music, from classic soul to hip-hop to Brazilian music to, you know, jazz to indie…

— John Legend

I love jazz. I still do. Dave Brubeck and Stan Getz are so good. I took a notification course in Jazz Orchestration.…

— Gordon Lightfoot

There's a lot of female singers and I don't want to dismiss them, but the male - and I have to be…

— Gregory Porter

The use of rock, folk, or pop music serves a purpose. It gets people into the church. But an inexperienced guitar player…

— Dave Brubeck

I had not been in the jazz environment, having been brought up in the church. But once I got to New York,…

— Aretha Franklin

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

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

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

— Libba Bray

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

— Hope Sandoval

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

— Miles Davis

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

Gospel, soul, jazz, and R&B were what I felt connected to as an artist.

— Raye

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

— Stan Getz

Jazz does not belong to one race or culture, but is a gift that America has given the world.

— Ahmad Alaadeen

The only reason they're out there is to see me fall into the damn orchestra pit.

— Billie Holiday

Every conversation is a form of Jazz. The activity of instantaneous creation is as ordinary to us as breathing.

— Stephen Nachmanovitch

I like mellow music. I like some jazz. But I'm not a big hard rock guy.

— Gary Carter

Hip-hop has a feeling element, it's not just about knowing music. It's not like classical music or jazz where you can go…

— Robert Greene

On the radio I listen to the easy-listening stations, the jazz stations.

— Patti Page

Bibidy, bom bi bom, mek, jazz go mad. Bibidy, bom bi bom, mek, house go mad.

— Reel 2 Real

I wasn't so interested in being paid. I wanted to be heard. That's why I'm broke.

— Ornette Coleman

I don't care if a dude is purple with green breath as long as he can swing.

— Miles Davis