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 DAVISIf you hit a wrong note, it’s the next note that you play that determines if it’s good or bad.
More Miles Davis Quotes
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My father’s rich, my momma’s good looking. Right? And I can play the Blues. I’ve never suffered and don’t intend to suffer.
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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.
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It takes a long time to sound like yourself.
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You have to practice for a long time before you can learn to sound like yourself.
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I don’t care if a dude is purple with green breath as long as he can swing.
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Some day I’m gonna call me up on the phone, so when I answer, I can tell myself to shut up.
MILES DAVIS -
For me, music and life are all about style.
MILES DAVIS -
A painting is music you can see and music is a painting you can hear.
MILES DAVIS -
There are no wrong notes.
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 -
You can tell whether a person plays well or not by the way he carries the instrument, whether it means something to him or not.
MILES DAVIS -
You can’t play anything on a horn that Louis Armstrong hasn’t played.
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 -
You should never be comfortable, man. Being comfortable fouled up a lot of musicians.
MILES DAVIS -
Keith, how does it feel to be a genius?
MILES DAVIS -
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 -
It’s not the notes you play, it’s the notes you don’t play.
MILES DAVIS -
Look, man, all I am is a trumpet player.
MILES DAVIS -
Don’t be afraid of mistakes – There are none.
MILES DAVIS -
Do not be afraid of errors. There are no errors.
MILES DAVIS -
First you imitate, then you innovate.
MILES DAVIS -
Certain drummers drop time, and I like to play on top of the beat.
MILES DAVIS -
I’ll play it first and figure out what it’s called later.
MILES DAVIS -
In music, silence is more important than sound.
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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.
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Bebop didn’t have the humanity of Duke Ellington. It didn’t even have that recognizable thing. Bird and Diz were great, fantastic, challenging – but they weren’t sweet.
MILES DAVIS