Don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there.
MILES DAVISIf I hear a song like “Time After Time.” I’m sittin’ there lookin’ at video and Cindy Lauper comes on singin’ this song. I said, “God damnnnnn!”
More Miles Davis Quotes
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The thing to judge in any jazz artist is, does the man project and does he have ideas.
MILES DAVIS -
What’s swinging in words? If a guy makes you pat your foot and if you feel it down your back, you don’t have to ask anybody if that’s good music or not. You can always feel it.
MILES DAVIS -
With “We Are The World,” I can’t even eat when I watch that on television. If I’m eatin’ some food, I have to put it down. I feel very strongly about that.
MILES DAVIS -
I can tell whether a person can play just by the way he stands.
MILES DAVIS -
Good music is good no matter what kind of music it is.
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 -
You have to practice for a long time before you can learn to sound like yourself.
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 -
When you work with great musicians, they are always a part of you . . . their spirits are walking around in me, so they’re still here and passing it on to others.
MILES DAVIS -
I don’t like to hear someone put down dixieland. Those people who say there’s no music but bop are just stupid; it shows how much they don’t know.
MILES DAVIS -
We don’t play to be seen. I’m addicted to music, not audiences.
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 -
Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself.
MILES DAVIS -
At least one day out of the year all musicans should just put their instruments down, and give thanks to Duke Ellington.
MILES DAVIS -
I never thought Jazz was meant to be a museum piece like other dead things once considered artistic.
MILES DAVIS