When we edit the music, I always remember, "It's my band. Save me a place to play." — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
Monk taught me more about music composition than anyone else on 52nd Street. — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
I don't care if a dude is purple with green breath as long as he can swing. — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
I've always told the musicians in my band to play what they know and then play above that. Because then anything can… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
When you work with great musicians, they are always a part of you . . . their spirits are walking around in… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
Jazz musicians are so comfortable. The reason they can't do what we do is because they're so comfortable doin' what they do. — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
“I’m always thinking about creating. My future starts when I wake up in the morning and see the light.” — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
In high school I was best in music class on the trumpet, but the prizes went to the boys with blue eyes.… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
In Europe, they like everything you do. The mistakes and everything. That's a little bit too much. — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
I began to realize that some of the things Ornette Coleman had said about things being played three or fours ways, independently… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
The music I was really listening to in 1968 was James Brown, the great guitar player Jimi Hendrix, and a new group...… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
Maybe you play a melody twice. You play it once like you like it, and some parts that you don't like you… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
I put all those synthesizer sounds behind "Decoy" and "Code M.D." A lot of things we write together. A lot of things… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
Somebody, my daughter or my wife, gave me a music box for Christmas. It plays "My Funny Valentine" on celeste, you know?… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
...people will go for anything they don't understand if it's got enough hype. They want to be hip, want always to be… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
Trane was the perfect saxophonist for Monk's music because of the space that Monk always used. Trane could fill up all that… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
I did Bronislaw Kaper's tune. He wrote "On Green Dolphin Street." I mean, I did all those ballads, all them ballads from… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
Birth of the Cool' became a collector's item, I think, out of a reaction to Bird and Dizzy's music. Bird and Diz… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
A lot of people ask me where music is going today. I think it's going in short phrases. If you listen, anybody… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
See, if you put a musician in a place where he has to do something different from what he does all the… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
If you make a suggestion and [musicians] don't know what you mean, you have to be able to do it yourself. I… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
I know what I've done for music, but don't call me a legend. Just call me Miles Davis. — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
You should never be comfortable, man. Being comfortable fouled up a lot of musicians. — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
I usually write from the rhythm section...If a drummer got a funky beat on some things - like a half-shuffle or a shuffle or… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
You have to practice for a long time before you can learn to sound like yourself — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
I began to realize that some of the things Ornette Coleman had said about things being played three or fours ways, independently of each… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
...people will go for anything they don't understand if it's got enough hype. They want to be hip, want always to be in on… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
I'm out there doing the best that I can, My lip is cut and I'm still playing. — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
When I'm playing, I'm never through. It's unfinished. I like to find a place to leave for someone else to finish it. That's where… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
![“I put all those synthesizer sounds behind "Decoy" and "Code M.D." A lot of things we write together. A lot of things are his, but they don't have that thing I want on the bottom. I often tell him, I say, "Bobby [Irving], if there's a melody, there's another one somewhere that goes with it."” quote by Miles Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/094/miles-davis-1842_behinds_i-put-all-those-synthesizer-sounds-behin_1039125.jpg)
![“Somebody, my daughter or my wife, gave me a music box for Christmas. It plays "My Funny Valentine" on celeste, you know? So I had Bobby [Irving] just play "Jean Pierre" with the changes on celeste.” quote by Miles Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/575/miles-davis-1842_boxes_somebody-my-daughter-or-my-wife-gave-me_863480.jpg)
![“If you make a suggestion and [musicians] don't know what you mean, you have to be able to do it yourself. I often sit down on drums and show 'em just exactly what I want. And I do it and then say, "How do you do that?" It's because I know how it looks, I know what I want to hear, and I don't drop…” quote by Miles Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/637/miles-davis-1842_able_if-you-make-a-suggestion-and-musicians-d_502009.jpg)
![“[Prince] could very well be the Duke Ellington of Rock 'n' Roll.” quote by Miles Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/0fa/miles-davis-1842_dukes_prince-could-very-well-be-the-duke-ellin_142140.jpg)