Quotes About Jazz

It is evidently known, beyond contradiction, that New Orleans is the cradle of Jazz and I, myself, happened to be the creator in the year 1902.

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing.

Next to jazz music, there is nothing that lifts the spirit and strengthens the soul more than a good bowl of chili.

Jazz is about the only form of art existing today in which there is freedom of the individual without the loss of group contact.

The memory of things gone is important to a jazz musician. Things like old folks singing in the moonlight in the back yard on a hot night or something said long ago.

Jazz is like a big secret club. The mainstream media doesn't pay any attention to it, it's like 1 percent of the music market - no one cares. Why? Because the majority of jazz is old.

If you really understand the meaning of be-bop, you understand the meaning of freedom.

I can play all I know in eight bars.

That.s what Jazz music is all about.We started the Messengers because somebody had to mind the store for jazz.No America--no Jazz. It is the only culture that America has brought forth.

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.

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

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

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

I think I had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to sound like a dry martini.

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.

Jazz music is as American as it gets, and so is the U.S. Postal Service. A Miles Davis stamp is a perfect marriage of two great American institutions.

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.

I don't need words. It's all in the phrasing.

There's more bad music in jazz than any other form. Maybe that's because the audience doesn't really know what's happening.

The first time I heard Bird play, it hit me right between the eyes.

Trane was the father. Pharoah was the son. I was the holy ghost.

I don't dig that two-beat jive the New Orleans cats play. My boys and I have to have four heavy beats to the bar and no cheating.

Jazz is like wine. When it is new it's only for the experts, but when it gets older everybody wants it.