A legend is an old man with a cane known for what he used to do. I’m still doing it.
MILES DAVISI’ve always told the musicians in my band to play what they know and then play above that. Because then anything can happen, and that’s where great art and music happens.
More Miles Davis Quotes
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There are no wrong notes in jazz: only notes in the wrong places.
MILES DAVIS -
White folks always think that you have to have a label on everything – you know what I mean?
MILES DAVIS -
Jazz is like blues with a shot of heroin!
MILES DAVIS -
You know why I quit playing ballads? Cause I love playing ballads.
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 -
Jazz is the big brother of Revolution. Revolution follows it around.
MILES DAVIS -
I ain’t no entertainer, and ain’t trying to be one. I am one thing, a musician.
MILES DAVIS -
In improvisation, there are no mistakes.
MILES DAVIS -
Anybody can play. The note is only 20 percent. The attitude of the motherfucker who plays it is 80 percent.
MILES DAVIS -
If you’re not nervous then you’re not paying attention.
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 -
Look, man, all I am is a trumpet player.
MILES DAVIS -
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 -
My future starts when I wake up every morning.
MILES DAVIS -
If you understood everything I say, you’d be me!
MILES DAVIS -
Always listen for what you can leave out.
MILES DAVIS -
In Europe, they like everything you do. The mistakes and everything. That’s a little bit too much.
MILES DAVIS -
In music, silence is more important than sound.
MILES DAVIS -
To keep creating you have to be about change.
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 -
You have to practice for a long time before you can learn to sound like yourself.
MILES DAVIS -
I think every Negro over fifty should get a medal for putting up with all that crap.
MILES DAVIS -
All my inspiration comes from Ahmad Jamal.
MILES DAVIS -
Don’t be afraid of mistakes – There are none.
MILES DAVIS -
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 -
Coltrane, you cant play everything at once!
MILES DAVIS