Jazz Quotes

1344 Jazz quotes by 630 unique authors

It's the group sound that's important, even when you're playing a solo. You not only have to know your own instrument, you must know the… — Oscar Peterson
Some people say there was no jazz tenor before me. All I know is I just had a way of playing and I didn't think… — Coleman Hawkins
I love my jazz hands! — David Dickinson
The chief trouble with jazz is that there is not enough of it; some of it we have to listen to twice. — Don Herold
If they think they are doing something new, they ought to do what I do every day - spend at least two hours every day… — Coleman Hawkins
Jazz is the big brother of Revolution. Revolution follows it around. — Miles Davis
As far as being a 'player's player,' you've only got to go to Nashville or Argentina and you can forget about it. The world is… — Mark Knopfler
Anything you are shows up in your music - jazz is whatever you are, playing yourself, being yourself, letting your thoughts come through. — Mary Lou Williams
I wonder what an agent would do if he had to travel with the band he's booking. — Mary Lou Williams
To me, nostalgia is nothing more than a mindless plundering of the past for the commonplace. — Mel Torme
A good player can make any guitar sound good. — Mike Bloomfield
Sometimes there are no gigs, but the main thing is the music. You can't take that away. The only person who can take that away… — Mike Stern
You have to be born with it. You can't even buy it. If you could buy it, they'd have it at the next Newport Festival. — Miles Davis
Monk taught me more about music composition than anyone else on 52nd Street. — Miles Davis
...to me if it's anything, jazz is a verb-it's more like a process than it is a thing. — Pat Metheny
The qualities in music which I considered most important - and still do - were beauty, simplicity, originality, discrimination, and sincerity. — Paul Desmond
Jazz is the folk music of the machine age. — Paul Whiteman
I have discovered three things which know no geographical borders - classical music, American jazz, and applause as the sign of the public's favor. — Jascha Heifetz
Jazz I regard as an American folk music; not the only one, but a very powerful one which is probably in the blood and feeling… — George Gershwin
When jazz is played in another nation, it is called American. When it is played in another country, it sounds false. Jazz is the result… — George Gershwin
An entire composition written in jazz could not live. — George Gershwin
I started playing jazz by slowing down Tal Farlow records and analyzing his runs — Lenny Breau
Whenever you study composition you inevitably encounter Bach right off the bat. You can't get across the room without running into him and the other… — Howard Roberts
Kenny Burrell is the grand master of jazz guitar. — Dizzy Gillespie
People ask me to describe how I play, and the most obvious answer is that I'm a jazz influenced guitar player. But I'm not a… — Larry Carlton

Who Wrote These Jazz Quotes

630 authors contributed a total of 1,344 Jazz Quotes, led by these top contributors: