Miles Davis

I know what I’ve done for music, but don’t call me “a legend”.(…) A legend is an old man with a cane known for what he used to do. I’m still doing it.

It’s like, how did Columbus discover America when the Indians were already here? What kind of shit is that, but white people’s shit?

Is that what you wanted, Alfred?

Don't worry about playing a lot of notes. Just find one pretty one.

Bad music is what will ruin music, not the instruments musicians choose to play.

Music is a funny thing when you really come to think about it.

Billie Holiday—she was the nicest woman in the world, you know. All she wanted to do was sing. They picked on her and picked on her to get money out of her. You do drugs 'cause you like to, not 'cause it's a life-style.... They picked on Billie so much. She said, "Miles, come and see me in Long Island." She was in love with one of my kids and his curly hair—he used to ride my bicycle and watch the horse at Aqueduct. She said, "Miles, if they'd just leave me alone; they could have the house—everything." You know the way singers shake their asses now. Billie didn't have to do that. Her mouth was so sensuous; she was pretty and she would say certain words and her mouth would quiver, and she always had this white gardenia and long gloves.

My future starts when I wake up every morning. Every day I find something creative to do with my life.

He could very well be the Duke Ellington of Rock 'n' Roll.

It's not about standing still and becoming safe. If anybody wants to keep creating they have to be about change.

The only thing I'm interested in is the music and the musicians. I don't acknowledge applause 'cause I'm giving them something. They're not giving me anything with their applause. Can I write that down?

I hate how white people always try to take credit for something after they discover it. Like it wasn't happening before they found out about it — which most times is always late, and they didn't have nothing to do with it happening.

For me, music and life are all about style.

See, music is about style.

Take it off! That's some sad __, man. In the first place, I hear some Charlie Parker cliches. . . . They don't even fit. Is that what the critics are digging? Them critics better stop having coffee. If there ain't nothing to listen to, they might as well admit it. Just to take something like that and say it's great, because there ain't nothing to listen to, that's like going out and getting a prostitute. [Leonard Feather: This man said he was influenced by Duke Ellington.] I don't give a ! It must be . Right? I don't care who he's inspired by. That __ ain't nothing. In the first place he don't have the - you know, the way you touch a piano. He doesn't have the touch that would make the sound of whatever he thinks of come off. I can tell he's influenced by Duke, but to put the loud pedal on the piano and make a run is very old-fashioned to me. And when the alto player sits up there and plays without no tone . . . That's the reason I don't buy any records.