Jazz Quotes
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The jazz always seems to automatically come out, because it was from my jazz days that I learned that spark. And the nice thing with my band and this repertoire, which is a complete joy, is that we go beyond just playing chords and melody. It is music that can stretch out.
George Benson
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Jazz took too much discipline. You have to come in at the right place, which is different than me singing the blues, where I can sing, 'Oh, baby,' if there's a pause in the melody. With jazz, you better leave that space open, or put in something real cool.
Etta James
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We don't live in a jazz world, unfortunately. I think if I had lived in a jazz world, I would have done OK. I'm not sure I would have done great. I'm a lover of jazz music, so I would have been happy, don't get me wrong. I go to jazz concerts like the biggest jazz fan in world. The drag is that I don't play jazz for a living.
George Benson
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Frankie Randall is a consummate performer. He is an exquisite jazz pianist and wonderful singer. I had the great pleasure to work with him on the Dean Martin Show and I'm very proud to call him a friend!
Lainie Kazan
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I'm just writing love songs. I'm not trying to be pop. I'm not trying to be jazz. I'm not trying to be anything. I'm just writing love songs. And everyone loves a love song.
Adele
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Don't play what's there, play what's not there.
Miles Davis
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Jazz has always been a melting pot of influences and I plan to incorporate them all.
Esperanza Spalding
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Milton, of all people, gave the most perfect definition of the state of mind required to play jazz: ' with wanton heed and giddy cunning.' That's how you play jazz.
Paul Desmond
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Writing is like jazz. It can be learned, but it can't be taught.
Paul Desmond
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All the jazz guys had interracial relationships, and even the ladies did. Over the years, interracial relationships have been a hip, almost defiant thing, a way of saying "Nobody can put a boundary around me."
Quincy Jones
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To me, jazz is a place where anything is possible.
Bill Frisell
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Some people think I'm a rock 'n' roll musician and some think I'm a jazz musician but, for me, there is no difference.
Georgie Fame
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Not according to this," Jazz said, taking the report. "No evidence of sexual activity or anything like it." "Well, there's that," Howie said, sounding relieved. Jazz wondered at that - was it really so much better to be unmolested, but still murdered in a horrible fashion? To die in pain and terror, stripped, left in a field, your fingers cut off? But as long as you weren't raped, well, that was alright, then? Did it really matter at that point?
Barry Lyga
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Martin Williams persistently gets at essences, and that is why he has contributed so much to the very small body of authentic jazz criticism.
Nat Hentoff
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If there had never been the Great Migration there would never have been jazz, there would never have been Michelle Obama. A lot of amazing black people exist in this country because of the Great Migration. That's nation-building.
Ayana Mathis
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I was a jazz major in high school, in an all-jazz band. No matter what I do, it features my musical influences.
Wyclef Jean
Fugees
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Clifford Brown was in the jazz circles considered to be probably the greatest trumpet player who ever lived.
Herb Alpert
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I think if it wasn't for the blues, there wouldn't be no jazz.
Aaron Thibeaux
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I think the other thing that's important is getting to a place, which very, very rarely happens with improvising groups, where somebody can decide not to play for a while. You watch any group of musicians improvising together and they nearly all play nearly all the time. In fact I often say that the biggest difference between classical music and everything else is that classical musicians sometimes shut up because they're told to, because the score tells them to. Whereas any music that's sort of based on folk or jazz, everybody plays all the time.
Brian Eno
Roxy Music
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Jazz was born out of the whiskey bottle, was raised on marijana, and will expire on cocaine.
Artie Shaw
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The whole world loves American movies, blue jeans, jazz and rock and roll. It is probably a better way to get to know our country than by what politicians or airline commercials represent.
Billy Joel
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You have to enjoy playing. The old-timers did, and that's one reason why their music is a lasting music. I feel that I play jazz to entertain the listener, and you just can't do that unless you yourself are entertained at the same time.
Barry Harris
