We learn a language through its song, and even if you don't have music you have the song of people you love's… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
When I was 12, I began listening to John Coltrane and I developed a love for jazz, which I still have more… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
There's the tradition in jazz of having the Battle of the Bands, and you do not want to get your head cut… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
When it comes to songs and music, yeah, people love to sing and dance and play music and tunes, and that stream… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
Jazz music is the power of now. There is no script. It's conversation. The emotion is given to you by musicians as… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
Jazz comes from our way of life, and because it's our national art form, it helps us to understand who we are. — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
Duke Ellington always had a style: original, clean with interesting color combinations. He had an artist's eye. — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
My mother always took my brothers and me to music lessons. There were six children. Our parents attended our concerts and encouraged… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
Jazz music celebrates life! Human life; the range of it, the absurdity of it, the ignorance of it, the greatness of it,… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
Certain music, jazz in particular, has the ability to make you a better citizen of the world. It helps you expand your… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
Everything comes out in blues music: joy, pain, struggle. Blues is affirmation with absolute elegance. It's about a man and a woman.… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
I hope it might help players have confidence in our own ways, and not to be afraid of them, as Bernstein showed… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
Jazz celebrates older generations and not just the youth movement. When you "sell" only to people of a certain age, you get… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
I think that the blues is in everything, so it's not possible to neglect it. You hear somebody go 'Ooh ooh oooh,'… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
When I came to New York, to Brooklyn, I met Alvin Ailey and Stanley Crouch and August Wilson. They were always putting… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
Jazz is not just 'Well, man, this is what I feel like playing.' It's a very structured thing that comes down from… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
Grace Kelly plays with intelligence, wit and feeling. She has a great amount of natural ability and the ability to adapt. That… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
Flexibility is an essential part of Jazz. It's what gives Jazz music the ability to combine with all other types of music… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
We all teach from that same frame of reference. We're like neighborhood - the people who have had the opportunity through this… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
What I've learned how to do as I've gotten older is to take all of the information that I have, and push… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
If you didn't have the amalgam of Blacks and African-type sensibility and European sensibility, you wouldn't have jazz. Even in the negative… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
Even if nobody's singing, just when you talk, you're singing. I'll meet somebody and say, "Oh, I'm tone-deaf." I say, "You're not… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
But you listen to Coltrane and that's something human, something that's about elevation. It's like making love to a woman. It's about… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
I never minded giving my opinions. They are just opinions, and I had studied music and I had strong feelings. I was happy for… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share
I always read all these books about the slaves. My mother is very educated. My father would talk to us like we were grown… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share
“The best musicians know this music isn't about "schools" at all. Like my father says, "There's only one school, the school of 'Can you… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share
And that's the soulful thing about playing: you offer something to somebody. You don't know if they'll like it, but you offer it. — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share
I'm not a person who writes really abstract things with oblique references. I look at abstraction like I look at condiments. Give me some… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share
Many a revolution started with the actions of a few. Only 56 men signed the Declaration of Independence. A few hanging together can lead… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share
“Today you go into make a modern recording with all this technology. The bass plays first, then the drums come in later, then they… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share
In the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra we play such a diversity of music, with 10 arrangers in the band, we don't really worry… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share
Commercialism that has absolutely no relationship to quality whatsoever, only quantitative assessment of a thing. — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share
Instead of imposing your will on every situation...focus on including everyone else, and just that little adjustment of attitude gives you the space to… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share
“I noticed that religion gave some people a way to escape dealing with the world: “Things will be better when you die,” the people… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share
Trumpet players see each other, and it's like we're getting ready to square off or get into a fight or something. — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share
