Certain drummers drop time, and I like to play on top of the beat.
MILES DAVISI used to enjoy all the white bands when I was a kid listening to the radio. But the record companies, they take music and label it – like, they say “rock”. Because the white singers can’t sound like James Brown, they call him “soul”. They’ve been doing that for years. That’s the prejudice crap.
More Miles Davis Quotes
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Some musicians play with their heart, you know what I mean? I don’t know what to tell a person that can’t – if you can’t tell a person what you’re talkin’ about when they’re rushin’ or droppin’ the tempo, you get somebody else.
MILES DAVIS -
There are no wrong notes.
MILES DAVIS -
In improvisation, there are no mistakes.
MILES DAVIS -
In high school I was best in music class on the trumpet, but the prizes went to the boys with blue eyes. I made up my mind to outdo anybody white on my horn.
MILES DAVIS -
If you don’t know what to play, play nothing.
MILES DAVIS -
I don’t pay no attention to what critics say about me, the good or the bad. The toughest critic I got is myself…and I’m too vain to play anything I think is bad.
MILES DAVIS -
Always look ahead, but never look back.
MILES DAVIS -
White folks always think that you have to have a label on everything – you know what I mean?
MILES DAVIS -
Music is a funny thing when you really come to think about it.
MILES DAVIS -
You have to know 400 notes that you can play, then pick the right four.
MILES DAVIS -
I’m not messing around with nobody’s woman. If I want a woman I go get her – you know what I mean?
MILES DAVIS -
I like Stan [Getz], because he has so much patience, the way he plays those melodies – other people can’t get nothing out of a song, but he can, which takes a lot of imagination.
MILES DAVIS -
Drummers – sometimes they play and they listen. And that little listen takes a speck away from the right tempo.
MILES DAVIS -
He sounded to me like he’s supposed to be the savior of jazz. Sometimes people speak as though someone asked them a question. Well, no one asked him a question.
MILES DAVIS -
Knowledge is freedom and ignorance is slavery.
MILES DAVIS