Quotes

Music happens to be an art form that transcends language. - Herbie Hancock

Jazz is played from the heart. You can even live by it. Always love it. - Louis Armstrong

If they act too hip, you know they can’t play shit! - Miles Davis

I never had much interest in the piano until I realized that every time I played, a girl would appear on the piano bench to my left and another to my right. - Duke Ellington

Life is a lot like jazz. . . it’s best when you improvise. . . George Gershwin

If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know. - Louis Armstrong

The value of jazz still has to be clarified. People involve themselves with its superficialities without digging for its soul. - Stan Getz

Jazz is freedom. You think about that. - Thelonious Monk

It bugs me when people try to analyze Jazz as an intellectual theorem. It’s not, it’s a feeling – Bill Evans

Forgive me if I don’t have the words. Maybe I can sing it and you’ll understand. – Ella Fitzgerald

Jazz music is a language of emotions – Charles Mingus

Jazz is the type of music that can absorb so many things and still be jazz - Sonny Rollins

There is no art without intention. – Duke Ellington

Jazz isn't dead, it just smells funny. – Frank Zappa

At heart I've always been a jazz man. – James Brown

You can't rehearse a blues, darlin'. – Joe Williams

Oh, jazz and love are the hardest things to describe from rationale. - Mel Torme

Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. – Plato

When Bird came on the scene, it was just as shocking as in the Bible: everything was dark, and then the light appeared for the first time. - Shorty Rogers

When you get to the top, don't forget to send the elevator down for the next guy. – Stan Kenton

Regardless of what you play, the biggest thing is keeping the feel going. – Wes Montgomery