[Jazz musicians] feel comfortable with their clichés, you know.
MILES DAVISIn Europe, they like everything you do. The mistakes and everything. That’s a little bit too much.
More Miles Davis Quotes
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I ain’t no entertainer, and ain’t trying to be one. I am one thing, a musician.
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Always look ahead, but never look back.
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It takes you years to learn how to play like yourself.
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Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself.
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My future starts when I wake up every morning.
MILES DAVIS -
When the band plays fast, you play slow; when the band plays slow, you play fast.
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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 -
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 -
You know why I quit playing ballads? Cause I love playing ballads.
MILES DAVIS -
In music, silence is more important than sound.
MILES DAVIS -
Don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there.
MILES DAVIS -
With “We Are The World,” I can’t even eat when I watch that on television. If I’m eatin’ some food, I have to put it down. I feel very strongly about that.
MILES DAVIS -
I always listen to what I can leave out.
MILES DAVIS -
When you work with great musicians, they are always a part of you . . . their spirits are walking around in me, so they’re still here and passing it on to others.
MILES DAVIS -
You have to know 400 notes that you can play, then pick the right four.
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 -
You should never be comfortable, man. Being comfortable fouled up a lot of musicians.
MILES DAVIS -
If you hit a wrong note, it’s the next note that you play that determines if it’s good or bad.
MILES DAVIS -
Do not fear mistakes. There are none.
MILES DAVIS -
We don’t play to be seen. I’m addicted to music, not audiences.
MILES DAVIS -
To keep creating you have to be about change.
MILES DAVIS -
Some day I’m gonna call me up on the phone, so when I answer, I can tell myself to shut up.
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Coltrane, you cant play everything at once!
MILES DAVIS -
Music is the framework around the silence.
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If somebody told me I only had an hour to live, I’d spend it choking a white man. I’d do it nice and slow.
MILES DAVIS