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Quote by Miles Davis

“Everybody ought to listen to Benny [Carter]. He's a whole musical education.”

Quote by Miles Davis

Author

Miles Davis was an influential jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of jazz, with his work spanning a wide range of styles and influencing countless musicians. His career spanned over five decades, and he was known for his innovative approach to music and his collaborations with some of the greatest musicians of his time. more

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“Tom Jones is funny to me, man. I mean, he really tries to ape Ray Charles and Sammy Davis, you know. He's nice-looking; he looks good doing it. I mean, if I was him, I'd do the same thing. If I was only thinking about making money.”

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Author:Miles Davis

“I don't hold it against Dizzy [Gillespie], you know, but if a guy wants to play a certain way, you work towards that. If he stops - he's full of crap, you know. I mean, I wouldn't do it, for no money, or for no place in the white man's world. Not just to make money, because then you don't have anything. You don't have as much money as whoever you're trying to ape; that's making money by being commercial. Then you don't have anything to give the world; so you're not important. You might as well be dead.”

Ifs Knows Men World Way Want Giving Trying Wells Mean Important Play Might Guy Certain White Making Money Crap White Man Apes No Money Dizzy Commercialism

Author:Miles Davis

“Sometimes [playing free] doesn't happen, because maybe a guy's wife'll come in, you know, and his ego will catch him. If everybody's completely just straight-without any old ladies over here, a fourth of whisky over there; if it's balanced right, it'll come off. It has to be. But when you get egos involved with playing free, you can't do it.”

Ifs Knows Sometimes Happens Guy Wife Involved Ego Fourth Balanced Old Lady Whisky

Author:Miles Davis

“I would never try and play like Harry James, because I don't like his tone - for me. It's just white. You know what I mean? He has what we black trumpet players call a white sound. But it's for white music ... I can tell a white trumpet player, just listening to a record. There'll be something he'll do that'll let me know that he's white.”

Knows Trying Mean I Can Play Funny Sound Black White Records Player Listening Let Me Tone Trumpets Just Listen

Author:Miles Davis

“You want to know how I started playing trumpet? My father bought me one, and I studied the trumpet. And everybody I heard that I liked, I picked up things from.”

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Author:Miles Davis

“You can't compete with Sweets' sound and time feel. It's impossible.”

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Author:Miles Davis

“I'm not messing around with nobody's woman. If I want a woman I go get her - you know what I mean?”

Ifs Knows Want Mean Women I Want A Woman

Author:Miles Davis

“Dave [Holland] plays the way he wants to play. And it's usually what's needed. You know, Dave is such a deep thinker. You can't tell him too much, else it might spoil his spirit, you know.”

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Author:Miles Davis

“[Prince] could very well be the Duke Ellington of Rock 'n' Roll.”

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Author:Miles Davis

“The music has gotten thick. Guys give me tunes and they're full of chords. I can't play them...I think a movement in jazz is beginning away from the conventional string of chords, and a return to emphasis on melodic rather than harmonic variation. There will be fewer chords but infinite possibilities as to what to do with them.”

Thinking Giving I Can Play Guy Movement Possibility Return Give Me Infinite Jazz Tunes Strings Fewer Thick Conventional Emphasis Chords Variation Infinite Possibilities

Author:Miles Davis