Jazz Quotes

If there was no black man there would be no Rock'n'Roll. The beat, the rhythms of Africa are what created Rock'n'Roll and Jazz.

The piano ain't got no wrong notes.

I progressed through so many different styles of music through my teen years, both as a player and a vocalist, particularly the jazz and pop of the early 20th Century.

I still love the whole history of jazz. The old things sound better than ever.

I'm into scales right now.

By its very nature, no one person can ever be the center of Jazz.

Jazz is a music that is open enough to borrow from any other form of music, and has the strength to influence any other form of music.

Let your life be your music and let your music be your life.

Jazz was born out of the whiskey bottle, was raised on marijiana, and will expire on cocaine.

He's not a performer, he's not a composer, he's not even a musician, but Norman Granz is Mr. Jazz.

Without the beat in the background, Jazz basically sounds like an armadillo was let loose on the keyboard.

I ... started out to become a jazz pianist; in the meantime I started singing and I sang the way I felt and that's just the way it came out.

I have discovered three things which know no geographical borders - classical music, American jazz, and applause as the sign of the public's favor.

I've really gone into business since I got the 6 string, which was like starting all over.

Working with Monk is like falling down a dark elevator shaft.

You can't teach it [jazz singing]. There's nobody who can teach you how to sing jazz. Either you know how to sing jazz, or you don't.

I think if it wasn't for the blues, there wouldn't be no jazz.

If you play the very subtle jazz tunes with acoustic pianos, acoustic bass and it's a dead standard, you are going to play very differently. It depends on the music.

All bad jazz sounds like Woody Woodpecker.

You have to make a decided effort to not get seduced by the Blues.

Jazz is a state of mind. There's no boundaries.

What I'm doing, I prefer to call that jazz, because it is a beautiful word - I love it.

Jazz is something you have to feel, something you have to live.

There’s no such thing as a wrong note.

In my music, I'm trying to play the truth of what I am.

I like the idea of an eclectic approach, incorporating jazz with other forms and other genres of music.

I work with many jazz artists as Miles Davis, Laughlin, etc.. One of the things all these artists had in common is that they had no fear.

As far as I'm concerned, blues and jazz are the great American contributions to music.

I used to do a lot of apologizing for what the State Department had done.

I learned from my uncle that jazz, like symphony music, was built to last.

Jazz is about freedom within discipline.

Shoes are a big part of your look. I think that if your outfit isn't really something special, then fun footwear is a great way to jazz it up and make your ensemble more interesting.

I think I represent a more left-wing view of what jazz is

One of the things that's clear to me from interviews that I've read is that the more popular successful jazz musicians had audiences above and beyond the music community.

I always say it's not my Arkestra, it belongs to some other force which wants certain things, to reach people.

It's sort of what jazz would be if it stopped being snobby and what rock would be if it stopped being stupid.

I made the wrong mistakes

Comedy is the ultimate truth. Jazz is hitting the notes that that no one else would hit, and comedy is saying words that no one else would say.

I listened to classical guitar and Spanish guitar, as well as jazz guitar players, rock and roll and blues. All of it. I did the same thing with my voice.

If jazz has to be termed as a wave, then music is a sea, but if the reflectors in the water is the chord.

We must be as pure as our music.

Jazz comes from anywhere the human being has a soul and has a heart.

Anyone who understands Jazz knows that you can't understand it. It's too complicated. That's what's so simple about it.

Certainly, jazz has become more of a niche, which is surprising, because it's our music. It's the national music of America.

Whenever society gets too stifling and the rules too complex, there's some sort of musical explosion.

For me writing is a question of finding a certain rhythm. I compare it to the rhythms of jazz.

If he's a true symphony artist, he knows better than that because he knows that the only truly creative musician is the jazz musician.

If you don't know what it is, don't mess with it.

If one takes all the styles in jazz harmonically from the earliest beginnings to the latest experiments, he still has a rather limited scope when compared to the rest of music in the world.

If you understood everything I say, you'd be me!