Dizzy Gillespie

Kenny Burrell is the grand master of jazz guitar.

— Dizzy Gillespie

How do I know why Miles walks off the stage? Why don't you ask him? And besides, maybe we'd all like to…

— Dizzy Gillespie

They're not particular whether you're playing a flat 5th or a ruptured 129th as long as they can dance.

— Dizzy Gillespie

I try to play the bare essence, to let everything be just what it's supposed to be.

— Dizzy Gillespie

I used to do a lot of apologizing for what the State Department had done.

— Dizzy Gillespie

Bop is at the end of the road. Now everybody wants dance music.

— Dizzy Gillespie

The idea of life is to give and receive.

— Dizzy Gillespie

As a musician you have to keep one foot back in the past and have one foot forward into the future.

— Dizzy Gillespie

Mutual respect is so important because as soon as it disappears in relations between you and the next person, there's trouble.

— Dizzy Gillespie

One of the reasons we're here is to be a part of this process of exchange.

— Dizzy Gillespie

Miles got a mystique about him-plus he's at the top of his profession. And he's got way, way, way more money.

— Dizzy Gillespie

I don't care much about music. What I like is sounds.

— Dizzy Gillespie

When I grow up I want to be just like Benny Carter!

— Dizzy Gillespie

I know all the Latin-American rhythms quite well, but I don't play them exactly like they do in their own country -…

— Dizzy Gillespie

Jazz will be the classical music of the future.

— Dizzy Gillespie

There are a lot of great players... a lot of great players around, but Louie Bellson is really something special.

— Dizzy Gillespie

Some days you get up and put the horn to your chops and it sounds pretty good and you win. Some days…

— Dizzy Gillespie

We loved one another, man. I mean all those stories about the rift ... there was no question of a rift between…

— Dizzy Gillespie

I think the idea is now for blacks to write about the history of our music. It's time for that, because whites…

— Dizzy Gillespie

I always try to teach by example and not force my ideas on a young musician. One of the reasons we're here…

— Dizzy Gillespie

I try to play the bare essence, to let everything be just what it's supposed to be in that particular spot...You have…

— Dizzy Gillespie

You can't steal a gift. Bird [Charlie Parker] gave the world his music, and if you can hear it you can have…

— Dizzy Gillespie

It's taken me all my life to learn what not to play.

— Dizzy Gillespie

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

— Dizzy Gillespie

Everyone wants to put people on, I think. And get away with it! That's the thing: put people on and get away…

— Dizzy Gillespie