This is our bandstand. If you don't want to play, get up off the instrument and leave. — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
We no longer want to be a melting pot, because we don't understand what is already melted. — 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
I didn't want to get that ring around my lips from practicing the trumpet, because I thought the girls wouldn't like me.… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
I believed in studying just because I knew education was a privilege. It was the discipline of study, to get into the… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
People have taken time out of their day and spent their money to come sit down at a concert. And it's jazz… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
One thing about excellence, it&Mac226;s an exclusive club. And it&Mac226;s only for those who really want to pay dues to the s--.… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
For me as a person who's in the arts and as someone who understands the magnitude of our contributions and the price… — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
He [Benny Carter] is all that every jazz musician the world over wants to be. He's performed 20,000 nights. How many shoes… — 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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
Louis Armstrong is jazz. He represents what the music is all about. — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
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 Image
Commercialism that has absolutely no relationship to quality whatsoever, only quantitative assessment of a thing. — Wynton Marsalis Copy Share Image
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 Image