Miles Davis Quotes

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

Don't play what's there, play what's not there.

I've changed music four or five times. What have you done of any importance other than be white?

Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself.

El conocimiento, el saber, es libertad, mientras que la ignorancia es esclavitud, y yo, simplemente, no podía creer que alguien estuviera tan cerca de la libertad y no se aprovechase de su buena suerte.

The music has gotten thick. Guys give me tunes and they're full of chords. I can't play them...I think a movement in jazz is beginning away from the conventional string of chords, and a return to emphasis on melodic rather than harmonic variation. There will be fewer chords but infinite possibilities as to what to do with them.

When they make records with all the mistakes in, as well as the rest, then they'll really make jazz records. If the mistakes aren't there too, it ain't none of you.

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?

"You can't play anything on a horn that Louis hasn't played." and "I love Pops" (Louis' nickname) … Louis has been through all kinds of styles. That's good tuba, by the way. You know you can't play anything on a horn that Louis hasn't played — I mean even modern. I love his approach to the trumpet; he never sounds bad. He plays on the beat — with feeling. That's another phrase for swing. I also love the way he sings.

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

You can tell whether a person plays or not by the way he carries the instrument, whether it means something to him or not. Then the way they talk and act. If they act too hip, you know they can’t play shit.

Anybody can play. The note is only 20 percent. The attitude of the motherfucker who plays it is 80 percent.

No, no pensaré en Gil como alguien que murió, ni tampoco pienso así en Jimmy, porque mi mente no va por esos caminos. Le echaré de menos, pero Gil sigue estando vivo en mi recuerdo, como lo está Jimmy, como lo están Trane y Bud y Monk y Bird y Mingus y Red y Paul y Wynton y todo el resto de hijoputas geniales, como Philly Joe, que ya han desaparecido de este mundo.

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

I’m always thinking about creating. My future starts when I wake up in the morning and see the light.