Don't bullshit' just play.

Jazz is democracy in music.

The best way to be, is to do.

Thank the good Lord for a job.

Jazz music is the power of now.

The bandstand is a sacred place.

Sustained intensity equals ecstacy.

Ethics are more important than laws.

A musician's whole life is to listen.

A beat is a moment in the life a groove.

Don't settle for style. Succeed in substance.

Jazz music creates so many phenomenal figures.

Let the critics criticize and let the doers do.

If you're not making mistakes, you're not trying.

If you want to be different, do something different.

Those who play for applause....Tha t’s all they get.

If you looked around, you'd be glad you couldn't see.

I'm not afraid of you being yourself. That's America.

I dress up a certain way because I respect the music.

There's so much spirit of integration and democracy in jazz.

Don't wish for someone else to do later what you can do now.

We looked up to our father. He still is much greater than us.

Only a few act - the rest of us reap the benefits of their risk.

New Orleans - the real New Orleans - is the soul of the country.

I have friends who will critique me much harder than any review.

When did we begin to lose faith in our ability to effect change?

You need a team. You need people to push you. You need opponents.

The Duke and Swing represent affirmation in the face of adversity.

Louis Armstrong is jazz. He represents what the music is all about.

We're blues people. And blues never lets tragedy have the last word.

What is deeper than respect and love? That’s what we felt: veneration.

I wanted to make somebody feel like Coltrane made me feel, listening to it.

Whenever you face a man who's playing your instrument, there's a competition.

I sounded like myself. People be saying I sound like Miles or Clifford Brown.

I play piano and drums very poorly and French horn and tuba all equally as bad.

Music is always for the listener, but the first listener is always the musician

I try to put a lot of our music in my music - by that I mean of American music.

Trumpet players are just belligerant, and cocky, and you know, just hard-headed.

This music heals people because music is vibration, and the proper vibration heals.

Nothing else will ever capture the democratic process in sound as perfectly as Jazz.

The heart of a music is its rhythm. The heart of rhythm section music is the rhythm.

This is our bandstand. If you don't want to play, get up off the instrument and leave.

Even in these times, there are still neighbors that will turn their backs on neighbors.

Humility is the doorway 2 truth & clarity of objectives... it's the doorway 2 learning.

The rebuilding of New Orleans is an important point in the history of the United States.

We no longer want to be a melting pot, because we don't understand what is already melted.

It was Dr. King's tireless activism that fostered our modern way of relating to one another.

When you create change with your point of view, you have to be ready for what comes with that.

The musicians I respected were much older than me. I expected them to cut my head, and they did.

The only justification for looking down on anyone is that you're going to stop and pick them up.

Share This Page