Jazz Quotes · Page 37

Souljazz doesn't reinvent soul, jazz or the fusion thereof, but it plays all of the above with the passion that drove its…

— Anthony Fantano

[Jazz musicians] couldn't cut rock. I had to be more limited and specific about what I was doing.

— Van Morrison

“I’m always thinking about creating. My future starts when I wake up in the morning and see the light.”

— Miles Davis

“I'm eclectic,' she said to the HDs once and I could see them trying to work out where she plugged in.”

— Cath Crowley

The strange thing about Africa is how past, present and future come together in a kind of rough jazz, if you like.

— Ben Okri

An artist should write for himself & not for an audience. If the audience likes it, great. If not, they can keep away.

— Artie Shaw

I think more than writers, the major influences on me have been European movies, jazz, and Abstract Expressionism.

— Don DeLillo

Learn to play the piano, man, and then you can figure out crazy solos of your own.

— Dizzy Gillespie

Jazz is a music that really allows a person to express his deepest self, his most personal self - Africa being the…

— Harold Land

I couldn't get my album played over the so-called smooth jazz stations. Jazz stations would not play it. You don't always know…

— Roy Ayers

I suppose it was later on that I realized that there was some reaction among the musicians themselves, some of whom resented…

— Ashley Kahn

It wasn't hard coming off technical playing and playing the simplistic eighth notes the Ramones were known for. I'd always listened to…

— Marky Ramone

I really don't. I have truly eclectic taste in music and I seem to cycle through phases in terms of to what's…

— Rachel Miner

I grew up with classical music blasting in my parents' living room and my older brother's practicing saxophone in his room listening…

— Josephine de La Baume

I began with dance, doing ballet at 3, then tap, jazz, modern. Then I sang in church choirs, learned how to play…

— Samantha Barks

Thelonius Monk went over to Bird and Bud Powell and said, 'I told you guys to act crazy, but I didn't tell…

— Charles Mingus

I hired Bob at Terrytoons. He was my assistant animator, and then became an animator himself. He had just come from Boston…

— Ralph Bakshi

A lot of us have classical and jazz training, and it would be hard for us to work with a hip-hop artist…

— Philip Bailey

There's this certain caliber of dancing I was striving for when I was younger, and it's very hard for me to go…

— Summer Glau

Once there was Louis Armstrong blowing his beautiful top in the muds of New Orleans; before him the mad musicians who had…

— Jack Kerouac

I wanted to be a jazz pianist, but I wasn't good enough. I got into city college because I didn't have the…

— Dustin Hoffman

I like to shoot beautiful things. My two previous movies were one in the '60s, the other one in the '50s, and…

— Michel Hazanavicius

“There was no control except the " mood of his power... and it is for this reason it is good you never…

— Michael Ondaatje

In the States, this type of jam-band phenomena has opened it up for groups to improvise, admittedly more in the groove area,…

— John Scofield

It's something that jazz has gotten away from, and it's unfortunate. Players aren't physical anymore.

— Branford Marsalis

I never liked jazz or anything else. Early rock n' roll - that was music to me. Everything else was boring.

— Lemmy

Many jazz artists go to L.A. seeking a more comfortable life and then they really stop playing.

— Sonny Rollins

Joe Sample was one of my heroes. I met him at the Curacao Jazz festival, and I fanned out like he was…

— India Arie

Jazz is not the format where I want to stay, but it really is a starting point for me.

— Justin Guarini

We were either listening to jazz or Robert Johnson, the old blues man, but not to our peers.

— Butch Trucks

My strength is to communicate with an audience and to know what jazz singing is capable of.

— Kurt Elling

My dad listened to a load of jazz - Mahavishnu, Weather Report, Herbie Hancock.

— Julian Barratt

I really like the complexity of jazz, the emotional depth; I feel like there's no other music that's really as satisfying as…

— Jose James

To play piano is a significant part of my life, my existence. It fulfills a very physical & spiritual need for me.

— Michel Legrand

I always liked jazz. And my people liked the old blues, race records and the doo-wop and all that.

— Amiri Baraka

When we were at the Apollo, Holiday was a block away. I asked her for her autograph.

— Ella Fitzgerald

Herb Wong was an incredible man. We met when I was performing with Clark Terry at the Wichita Jazz Festival around 1974.

— Dianne Reeves

Today Jazz music is performed & listened to by people of all ethnicity, backgrounds, ages & creeds.

— Michelle Obama

I'm all into Jazz; I'm into New Orleans type music. There is country, there is southern gospel. I'm a huge southern gospel…

— Bart Millard

Once the jazz musician learns all the fundamentals they can keep track of a lot of choices in an instant.

— Sheena Iyengar