There’s no denying he was one of the most iconic figures in jazz. Ever. The extraordinary career of American jazz trumpeter and composer Miles Davis altered the course of jazz many times since he began recording over 70 years ago.
Miles Davis was born in 1926 in Illinois and adopted a variety of musical directions in a five-decade career that kept him at the forefront of many major stylistic developments in jazz. His reputation and following saw him thrive after returning from a five-year retirement in the 1980s. He employed younger musicians and pop sounds on albums, achieving his highest level of commercial recognition ever. Davis went on to perform sold-out concerts worldwide, while branching out into visual arts, film, and television work. He died in 1991 from the combined effects of a stroke, pneumonia and respiratory failure.
In 2006, Davis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame which recognized him as one of the key figures in the history of jazz. His discography includes 51 studio albums, 57 singles, and 72 collaborations throughout his long-spanning career.
Davis is still regarded as one of the most influential and innovative musicians ever and was never afraid to speak his mind. While he was controversial and challenging, his more dominant traits where engagement and inspiration.
These Miles Davis quotes offer invaluable insights into love and life from a legendary icon whose music and words continue to uplift millions worldwide.
1. Do not fear mistakes. There are none.
2. Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself.
3. When you’re creating your own shit, man, even the sky ain’t the limit.
4. Good music is good, no matter what kind of music it is.
5. Good music is good no matter what kind of music it is.
6. Don’t worry about playing a lot of notes. Just find one pretty one.
7. How far would I travel to be where you are? How far is the journey from here to a star?
8. Don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there.
9. If you’re not making a mistake, it’s a mistake.
10. Music is a funny thing when you really come to think about it.
11. I’m always thinking about creating. My future starts when I wake up every morning… Every day I find something creative to do with my life.
12. If you’re not nervous, then you’re not paying attention.
13. I never thought jazz was meant to be a museum piece like other dead things once considered artistic.
14. In improvisation, there are no mistakes.
15. You’d be surprised. Drummers ape each other. The way every rock n’ roll record sounds like something else but not all together. Everything other drummers play, if you’re playing drums, they all hear.
16. Knowledge is freedom and ignorance is slavery.
17. I don’t care if a dude is purple with green breath as long as he can swing
18. Always look ahead, but never look back.
19. When you do anything too long, you either wear it out or lose interest.
20. The thing to judge in any jazz artist is, does the man project and does he have ideas.
21. It’s always been a gift with me, hearing music the way I do. I don’t know where it comes from, it’s just there and I don’t question it.
22. Bebop was about change, about evolution. It wasn’t about standing still and becoming safe. If anybody wants to keep creating they have to be about change.
23. You know why I quit playing ballads? Cause I love playing ballads.
24. Play what you know, and then play above that.
25. A legend is an old man with a cane known for what he used to do. I’m still doing it.
26. In music, silence is more important than sound.
27. I always hated categories. Always. Never thought it had any place in music.
28. Philly Joe was a bitch. If he'd been a lawyer and white, he would have been president of the United States, because in order to get there you gotta talk fast and carry a lot of bullshit with you; Philly had it all and a lot to spare.
29. When you get in front of an audience, you should try to give ’em something. After all, they’re there looking at you like this. You can’t go out and give ’em nothing.
30. I don’t like to hear someone put down Dixieland. Those people who say there’s no music but bop are just stupid; it shows how much they don’t know.
31. When I’m playing, I’m never through. It’s unfinished. I like to find a place to leave for someone else to finish it. That’s where the high comes in.
32. I’ll play it first and tell you what it is later.
33. Anybody can play. The note is only 20 percent. The attitude of the motherf****r who plays it is 80 percent.
34. 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.
35. A lot of people ask me where music is going today. I think it's going in short phrases. If you listen, anybody with an ear can hear that. Music is always changing. It changes because of the times and the technology that's available, the material that things are made of, like plastic cars instead of steel. So when you hear an accident today it sounds different, not all the metal colliding like it was in the forties and fifties. Musicians pick up sounds and incorporate that into their playing, so the music that they make will be different.
36. If it sounds clean and slick, I’ve been doing it too long.
37. 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.
38. In school I was the best, but the prizes went to boys with blue eyes. I made up my mind to outdo anybody white on my horn.
39. It’s not the note you play that’s the wrong note – it’s the note you play afterwards that makes it right or wrong.
40. Jazz is the big brother of Revolution. Revolution follows it around.
41. Jazz is like blues with a shot of heroin.
42. If you understood everything I say, you’d be me!
43. I know what I’ve done for music, but don’t call me a legend. Just call me Miles Davis.
44. If you hit a wrong note, it's the next note that you play that determines if it's good or bad.
45. I always listen to what I can leave out.
46. If they act too hip, you know they can’t play shit.
47. As long as I’ve been playing, they never say I done anything. They always say that some white guy did it.
48. 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.
49. But you’ve got to have style in whatever you do — writing, music, painting, fashion, boxing, anything.
50. If you sacrifice your art because of some woman, or some man, or for some color, or for some wealth, you can’t be trusted.
51. At least one day out of the year all musicians should just put their instruments down, and give thanks too Duke Ellington.
52. For me, music and life are all about style.
53. Man, sometimes it takes you a long time to sound like yourself.
54. If you don’t know what to play, play nothing.
55. I have to change. It’s like a curse.
56. Audiences – they like colour, you know. I can go out there wearing a red suit, man, and they’ll say I’m out of sight… I think they should be educated; you should always drop something on an audience… when you get in front of an audience, you should try to give ’em something. After all, they’re there looking at you like this. You can’t go out and give ’em nothing.
57. My ego only needs a good rhythm section.
58. Music is an addiction.