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 DAVISIn other words, an instrument should be an extension of you; it’s supposed to sound like you – the way you walk, the way you dress, you know.
More Miles Davis Quotes
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In improvisation, there are no mistakes.
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People will go for anything they don’t understand if it’s got enough hype.
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I’m out there doing the best that I can, My lip is cut and I’m still playing.
MILES DAVIS -
Do not fear mistakes. There are none.
MILES DAVIS -
It’s not about standing still and becoming safe. If anybody wants to keep creating they have to be about change.
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I never thought that the music called “jazz” was ever meant to reach just a small group of people, or become a museum thing locked under glass like all the other dead things that were once considered artistic.
MILES DAVIS -
If you love them in the morning with their eyes full of crust; if you love them at night with their hair full of rollers, chances are, you’re in love.
MILES DAVIS -
I always listen to what I can leave out.
MILES DAVIS -
Jazz musicians are so comfortable. The reason they can’t do what we do is because they’re so comfortable doin’ what they do.
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 -
If you sacrifice your art because of some woman, or some man, or for some color, or for some wealth, you can’t be trusted.
MILES DAVIS -
The only reason to write a new song is because you’re tired of the old ones.
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I can tell whether a person can play just by the way he stands.
MILES DAVIS -
Don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there.
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Jazz is an Uncle Tom word. They should stop using that word for selling. I told George Wein the other day that he should stop using it.
MILES DAVIS