Look, man, all I am is a trumpet player.
MILES DAVISYou have to know 400 notes that you can play, then pick the right four.
More Miles Davis Quotes
-
-
Don’t be afraid of mistakes – There are none.
MILES DAVIS -
It’s not the note you play that’s the wrong note – it’s the note you play afterwards that makes it right or wrong.
MILES DAVIS -
Music is the framework around the silence.
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 -
Knowledge is freedom and ignorance is slavery.
MILES DAVIS -
[Jazz musicians] feel comfortable with their clichés, you know.
MILES DAVIS -
I usually write from the rhythm section…If a drummer got a funky beat on some things – like a half-shuffle or a shuffle or a backbeat that’s even – I can write something.
MILES DAVIS -
Don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there.
MILES DAVIS -
White folks always think that you have to have a label on everything – you know what I mean?
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 -
Always look ahead, but never look back.
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 -
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 -
Some day I’m gonna call me up on the phone, so when I answer, I can tell myself to shut up.
MILES DAVIS -
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