Quote

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

Miles Davis

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Miles Davis
Age: 65 †
Born: 1926
Born: May 26
Died: 1991
Died: September 28
Actor
Autobiographer
Bandleader
Composer
Conductor
Film Score Composer
Jazz Musician
Musician
Recording Artist
Songwriter
Television Actor
Alton
Illinois
Miles Dewey Davis III
Miles Dewey Davis
III Davis
Notes
Jazz
Playing
Worry
Pretty
Find

More quotes by Miles Davis

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You should never be comfortable, man. Being comfortable fouled up a lot of musicians.
Miles Davis
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You want to know how I started playing trumpet? My father bought me one, and I studied the trumpet. And everybody I heard that I liked, I picked up things from.
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If you have a tone like mine that is recognizable. No matter what I play, when you hear my tone you can tell it's me.
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I never thought Jazz was meant to be a museum piece like other dead things once considered artistic.
Miles Davis
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Keith, how does it feel to be a genius?
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I can hear what I want [people] to play. If you don't hear what you want someone to play, then you can't tell 'em.
Miles Davis
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Jazz is the big brother of Revolution. Revolution follows it around.
Miles Davis
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When we edit the music, I always remember, It's my band. Save me a place to play.
Miles Davis
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You have to know 400 notes that you can play, then pick the right four.
Miles Davis
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When the band plays fast, you play slow when the band plays slow, you play fast.
Miles Davis
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In improvisation, there are no mistakes.
Miles Davis
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Trane was the perfect saxophonist for Monk's music because of the space that Monk always used. Trane could fill up all that space with all them chords and sounds he was playing then.
Miles Davis
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What's swinging in words? If a guy makes you pat your foot and if you feel it down your back, you don't have to ask anybody if that's good music or not. You can always feel it.
Miles Davis
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When I heard Coleman Hawkins, I learned to play ballads
Miles Davis
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I gave the album [You're Under Arrest] to Quincy Jones and he loved D Train. We couldn't call it D Train it's called MDI/Something's On Your Mind/MD2. That's on the album.
Miles Davis
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Jazz is like blues with a shot of heroin!
Miles Davis
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Sometimes, if you ask people to go downstairs and get me this or that, they'll say, It's rainin or It might rain, or There's some bumpy roads on the road, or bla-bla-bla. They give you all those excuses, so when they do something which is easy, you're supposed to say, Damn, you did that?
Miles Davis
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Somebody, my daughter or my wife, gave me a music box for Christmas. It plays My Funny Valentine on celeste, you know? So I had Bobby [Irving] just play Jean Pierre with the changes on celeste.
Miles Davis
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Tom Jones is funny to me, man. I mean, he really tries to ape Ray Charles and Sammy Davis, you know. He's nice-looking he looks good doing it. I mean, if I was him, I'd do the same thing. If I was only thinking about making money.
Miles Davis
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If you got up on the bandstand at Minton's and couldn't play, you were not only going to be embarrassed by the people ignoring you or booing you, you might get your ass kicked.
Miles Davis