Always look ahead, but never look back.
MILES DAVISAlways look ahead, but never look back.
MILES DAVISI’ll play it first and figure out what it’s called later.
MILES DAVISI like Stan [Getz], because he has so much patience, the way he plays those melodies – other people can’t get nothing out of a song, but he can, which takes a lot of imagination.
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.
MILES DAVISMy future starts when I wake up every morning.
MILES DAVISYou have to practice for a long time before you can learn to sound like yourself.
MILES DAVISLook, man, all I am is a trumpet player.
MILES DAVISThere are no wrong notes in jazz: only notes in the wrong places.
MILES DAVIS[Jazz musicians] feel comfortable with their clichés, you know.
MILES DAVISIn music, silence is more important than sound.
MILES DAVISYou can’t eat a winner’s plaque.
MILES DAVISIf you’re not nervous then you’re not paying attention.
MILES DAVISI 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 DAVISPlay what you know and then play above that
MILES DAVISIt takes a long time to sound like yourself.
MILES DAVISThe way you change and help music is by tryin’ to invent new ways to play.
MILES DAVIS