Wynton Marsalis quotes - page 3

There's so much spirit of integration and democracy in jazz. (Wynton Marsalis)
Don't worry about what others say about your music. Pursue whatever you are hearing... but if everybody really hates your music maybe you could try some different approaches. View quote
Wynton Marsalis
Trumpet players see each other, and it's like we're getting ready to square off or get into a fight or something. View quote
Wynton Marsalis
The young very seldom lead anything in our country today. It's been quite some time since a younger generation pushed an older one to a higher standard. View quote
Wynton Marsalis
I got my first trumpet when I was six years old, from Al Hirt. My father was playing in Al Hirt's band at that time. View quote
Wynton Marsalis
When I auditioned for my high school band the band director was excited because my father was known to be a great musician. When he heard me, he said 'Are you sure you're Ellis's son?' View quote
Wynton Marsalis
There's the tradition in jazz of having the Battle of the Bands, and you do not want to get your head cut when you're playing. View quote
Wynton Marsalis
My daddy thought - no, he expected - that my brothers and I and our generation would make the world a better place. He was correct in his belief because he had lived in an America of continual social progress, depression followed by prosperity, segregation by integration, and so on. View quote
Wynton Marsalis
When I was 12, I began listening to John Coltrane and I developed a love for jazz, which I still have more and more each year. View quote
Wynton Marsalis
My thing is, once you start to put a backbeat on your music or something that has a machine in it, you have popularity, but you lose the flexibility. And you lose a richness. View quote
Wynton Marsalis
There is an idea that a mind is wasted on the arts unless it makes you good in math or science. There is some evidence that the arts might help you in math and science. (Wynton Marsalis)
When me and my brother would go to see our daddy playing, there'd be 30 people in the audience. I was only 14 or 15, but I realised something was wrong. View quote
Wynton Marsalis
When you create change with your point of view, you have to be ready for what comes with that. View quote
Wynton Marsalis
I had to figure out how to survive in New York, and most of my time was occupied in getting an apartment and getting money. A lot of older jazz guys looked out for me and found me gigs and places to stay. View quote
Wynton Marsalis
There's always the cliche of the choir shouting and clapping. OK, you have to do that, but there's also introspective parts, parts where you just follow someone that's preaching. There's lots of different emotions and moods that a service requires. View quote
Wynton Marsalis
In the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra we play such a diversity of music, with 10 arrangers in the band, we don't really worry about whether it's contemporary or not. View quote
Wynton Marsalis
I'm not afraid of you being yourself. That's America. View quote
Wynton Marsalis
I didn't have a philosophical understanding of music until I came to New York. I didn't understand how it applied to my kind and my generation. I thought it was just old people talking. View quote
Wynton Marsalis
The heart of a music is its rhythm. The heart of rhythm section music is the rhythm. View quote
Wynton Marsalis
I grew up in the South, in New Orleans, where guys torture you all the time. So I didn't really grow up on the self-esteem campaign. When you were lousy at something, they told you you were lousy, and they told you how to fix it. View quote
Wynton Marsalis
Jazz comes from our way of life, and because it's our national art form, it helps us to understand who we are. (Wynton Marsalis)
Through improvisation, jazz teaches you about yourself. And through swing, it teaches you that other people are individuals too. It teaches you how to coordinate with them. View quote
Wynton Marsalis
If you are serious about American culture and you are serious about Afro-American culture, you are in a lot of pain. You are not - you are not smiling about it. View quote
Wynton Marsalis
My mother always took my brothers and me to music lessons. There were six children. Our parents attended our concerts and encouraged us to study and enjoy many different types of music. View quote
Wynton Marsalis
I play piano and drums very poorly and French horn and tuba all equally as bad. View quote
Wynton Marsalis