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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

If you hit a wrong note, it’s the next note that you play that determines if it’s good or bad.
MILES DAVIS

Determination Note Play Wrong Yourself
I think the greatest sound in the world is the human voice.
MILES DAVIS

Greatness Human Sound Voice World
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

Heart Known Musician Person Play Yourself
In music, silence is more important than sound.
MILES DAVIS

Important Music Silence Sound
Music is a funny thing when you really come to think about it.
MILES DAVIS

Funny Music Thinking Yourself
Don’t worry about playing a lot of notes. Just find one pretty one.
MILES DAVIS

Finding Music Notes Oneself Play Worry
I think every Negro over fifty should get a medal for putting up with all that crap.
MILES DAVIS

Thinking Tolerance
Good music is good no matter what kind of music it is.
MILES DAVIS

Goodness Music
In improvisation, there are no mistakes.
MILES DAVIS

Improvisation Mistake Spontaneous
Some day I’m gonna call me up on the phone, so when I answer, I can tell myself to shut up.
MILES DAVIS

Answer Call Myself Phone
When kids don’t learn about their own heritage in school, they just don’t care about school… But you won’t see it in the history books unless we get the power to write our own history and tell our story ourselves.
MILES DAVIS

Children Heritage History Learning Ourselves Story
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

Art Man Sacrifice Trust Woman Yourself
That’s the way women do. The frown. They want to give you the attitude to approach them back, by giving you a negative vibe.
MILES DAVIS

Attitude Negative Vibe Way Woman Yourself
Americans don’t like any form of art, man. All they like to do is make money. They don’t like me, Sammy Davis, or anybody else. They don’t like nothing. They just like Sammy because he can make ’em a lot of money.
MILES DAVIS

Art Celebrity Form Man Money Musician
A painting is music you can see and music is a painting you can hear.
MILES DAVIS

Hear Music Painting See Yourself
Always listen for what you can leave out.
MILES DAVIS

Leave Listening Yourself
I’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.
MILES DAVIS

Art Greatness Music Play
I used to enjoy all the white bands when I was a kid listening to the radio. But the record companies, they take music and label it – like, they say “rock”. Because the white singers can’t sound like James Brown, they call him “soul”. They’ve been doing that for years. That’s the prejudice crap.
MILES DAVIS

Enjoyment Listening White
I don’t pay no attention to what critics say about me, the good or the bad. The toughest critic I got is myself…and I’m too vain to play anything I think is bad.
MILES DAVIS

Attention Bad Criticism Myself Pay Play Thinking
Music is the framework around the silence.
MILES DAVIS

Framework Music Perspective Silence
If you’re going to drop behind, you have to keep it there.
MILES DAVIS

Behind Yourself
It took me twenty years study and practice to work up to what I wanted to play in this performance. How can she expect to listen five minutes and understand it?
MILES DAVIS

Expectation Herself Instrument Musician Performance Practice Time Understand
The thing to judge in any jazz artist is, does the man project and does he have ideas.
MILES DAVIS

Ideas Judgement Man Project
White folks always think that you have to have a label on everything – you know what I mean?
MILES DAVIS

Known Label Thinking Yourself
For me, music and life are all about style.
MILES DAVIS

Life Music Style
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

Music Myself Sell Word
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

Lyrics Music Myself People Play Writing

I’m out there doing the best that I can, My lip is cut and I’m still playing.

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I’m out there doing the best that I can, My lip is cut and I’m still playing.

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