Miles Davis

Jazz is the big brother of Revolution. Revolution follows it around.

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.

I never thought Jazz was meant to be a museum piece like other dead things once considered artistic.

You should never be comfortable, man. Being comfortable fouled up a lot of musicians.

I’ll play it first and tell you what it is later.

Don’t worry about playing a lot of notes. Just find one pretty one.

I don’t care about the rules, if I don’t break the rules at least 10x every song then I’m not doing my job.

So until we see you again, bright moments and keep searchin’ for your mystery note on the universal piano of life.

Jazz music is the power of now.

I love it. When they stop imitating me then I’ll start wondering where I’m going wrong. Every day when I sit down to play, I learn something new.

My music is the spiritual expression of what I am: my faith, my knowledge, my being.

If I could sell 500 million records every time, it would be great. But I’ve also had the luxury experience of having it when I was a teenager, in a very kind of model version of it.

You give up your own personality when you imitate somebody.

The time is now.

Leo wanted me to be partners with him – for it to be the Fender guitar: the Les Paul Fender. When he approached me with the idea, he brought over a guitar and he gave it to me and I have it here. And I thought, if I’m gonna do this I’m going to go with the biggest company in the world: Gibson. Why should I fool around with some guy who is not a musician – I should go to the Gibson people.

I wanted to put jazz on the record, all the loves of music that I had on the record, so I could show people I was ahead of my 19 years. It may have been over the heads of some people.

I like the music. I love it and live it in fact, but for me the business part just plain stinks.

Talking about music is like dancing about architecture.

Jazz is the big brother of Revolution. Revolution follows it around.

However it goes, I’ll just keep playing. That’s where the basic satisfaction is at.

True Jazz lovers understand the rhythms are infectious because they are the roots.