If you don’t know what to play, play nothing.
MILES DAVISI 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.
More Miles Davis Quotes
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Always look ahead, but never look back.
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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 -
The thing to judge in any jazz artist is, does the man project and does he have ideas.
MILES DAVIS -
It’s not the notes you play, it’s the notes you don’t play.
MILES DAVIS -
In music, silence is more important than sound.
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 -
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 -
Music is the framework around the silence.
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 -
I think every Negro over fifty should get a medal for putting up with all that crap.
MILES DAVIS -
Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself.
MILES DAVIS -
People will go for anything they don’t understand if it’s got enough hype.
MILES DAVIS -
If you’re not nervous then you’re not paying attention.
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 -
Food makes my mind sluggish.
MILES DAVIS