Jazz music Quotes · Page 10

We don't live in a jazz world, unfortunately. I think if I had lived in a jazz world, I would have done…

— George Benson

I may be prejudiced, but I believe that jazz music has the strongest healing potential, and it's not just because I play…

— Horace Silver

I'm not supposed to be playing, the music is supposed to be playing me. I'm just supposed to be standing there with…

— Sonny Rollins

You have to practice improvisation, let no one kid you about it!

— Art Tatum

You have to know composition to be a good improviser.

— Roscoe Mitchell

Jazz music is an intensified feeling of nonchalance.

— Francoise Sagan

Jazz is one of the least learnable art forms.

— Keith Jarrett

If it sounds good and feels good, then it IS good!

— Duke Ellington

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

— Billie Holiday

In my music, I'm trying to play the truth of what I am.

— Charles Mingus

Change is always happening. That's one of the wonderful things about Jazz music.

— Maynard Ferguson

I like to hear melodies that go from one extreme to the next- saxophone to a bell to a whistle, for instance.

— Roscoe Mitchell

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

— Stan Getz

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

— Ishmael Reed

I think all record companies should be run by a musician. Just as you wouldn't trust your health to an electrician.

— Paul Bley

Kansas City Lightning succeeds as few biographies of jazz musicians have. . . This book is a magnificent achievement; I could hardly…

— Henry Louis Gates

[Jazz] is a music of freedom and wonder. It's our indigenous art form, and I'm still blessed to travel around the world…

— Charles Lloyd

If I knew what it was going to look like, I wouldnt be so excited to be a part of it. Jazz…

— Joshua Redman

Kansas City, I would say, did more for jazz music, black music, than any other influence at all. Almost all their joints…

— Jesse Stone

Make no mistake, this music is for everyone. Jazz is not an exclusive, elite club. Go ahead, listen to your Snoop Doggy…

— Christian McBride

I think the whole question of meaning in music is difficult enough even if you hear me playing live right now in…

— Evan Parker

I am an improviser, ... I improvise music. Whatever you want to call it all, it is all improvised music. I may…

— Joe Zawinul

Sometimes I see players that think, and you can tell they're thinking of the next phrase to play or the next thing…

— Sonny Sharrock

Ornette Coleman wasn't sure whether he was going to continue with Charlie Haden-Charlie had some personal problems. I said "You've got to…

— Paul Bley

I was in New York, miserable because I was working supper clubs but I wasn't expressing myself. I was really unhappy with…

— Abbey Lincoln