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 DAVISWhen 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.
More Miles Davis Quotes
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I never thought Jazz was meant to be a museum piece like other dead things once considered artistic.
MILES DAVIS -
Knowledge is freedom and ignorance is slavery.
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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 -
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 -
There are no wrong notes.
MILES DAVIS -
I’ll play it first and figure out what it’s called later.
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 -
In other words, an instrument should be an extension of you; it’s supposed to sound like you – the way you walk, the way you dress, you know.
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 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 DAVIS -
Jazz is like blues with a shot of heroin!
MILES DAVIS -
In improvisation, there are no mistakes.
MILES DAVIS -
Always listen for what you can leave out.
MILES DAVIS -
My future starts when I wake up every morning.
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