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 DAVISBebop didn’t have the humanity of Duke Ellington. It didn’t even have that recognizable thing. Bird and Diz were great, fantastic, challenging – but they weren’t sweet.
More Miles Davis Quotes
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If you’re going to drop behind, you have to keep it there.
MILES DAVIS -
Do not fear mistakes. There are none.
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Knowledge is freedom and ignorance is slavery.
MILES DAVIS -
I’ll play it first and figure out what it’s called later.
MILES DAVIS -
I can’t write anything for myself. I can write when I hear like [John] Coltrane play something; I used to write chords and stuff for him to play in one bar. I can write for other people, but I don’t never write for myself.
MILES DAVIS -
[Jazz musicians] feel comfortable with their clichés, you know.
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Certain drummers drop time, and I like to play on top of the beat.
MILES DAVIS -
If you don’t know what to play, play nothing.
MILES DAVIS -
I’m out there doing the best that I can, My lip is cut and I’m still playing.
MILES DAVIS -
Music is a funny thing when you really come to think about it.
MILES DAVIS -
You can’t eat a winner’s plaque.
MILES DAVIS -
I don’t like to hear someone put down dixieland. Those people who say there’s no music but bop are just stupid; it shows how much they don’t know.
MILES DAVIS -
The only reason to write a new song is because you’re tired of the old ones.
MILES DAVIS -
We’re not going to play the blues anymore. Let the white folks play the blues. They got ’em, so they can keep ’em.
MILES DAVIS -
People will go for anything they don’t understand if it’s got enough hype.
MILES DAVIS