5 Inspiring Jazz Quotes For When You’re Disheartened
I’m sure we’ve all been there. When you’ve been practising but you don’t seem to be making much progress. Or maybe you haven’t been practising and you’re just lacking the motivation to get started. Well don’t worry, because here are 5 inspiring quotes by jazz musicians that will give you a little boost of motivation.
1. ”Don’t worry about playing a lot of notes. Just find one pretty one.” - Miles Davis.
Yes, that’s right, it’s legendary trumpet player, Miles Davis, who provides the first quote. A lot of the time we might be thinking that we’ve got to play as many notes as we can, and fit in all the jazz language and techniques that we can think of. But Miles is right, we don’t need to worry about all that. Just go with your heart, your emotion and your feeling.
2. “You blows who you is.” - Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong refers to blowing a trumpet, but this can be used to mean playing or improvising on any instrument. He’s essentially saying that who you are as a person, your beliefs, your life and your spiritual being is represented by your playing. So be true to yourself, and play how you want to play - not how you think you should be playing, or how someone else is playing.
3. “Regardless of what you play, the biggest thing is keeping the feel going.” - Wes Montgomery
All of these quotes can, and should, be interpreted differently by each of us. They will mean different things to different people. For me, this quote suggests that you should know or be aware of the feeling that you want to portray with your playing. And the best thing to do is hold onto that idea and play it with confidence. It’s almost as if the notes don’t matter, or at least they are secondary.
4. “Jazz music is the power of now. There is no script. It’s conversation. The emotion is given to you by musicians as they make split-second decisions to fulfil what they feel the moment requires.” - Wynton Marsalis
Wow, that’s a powerful quote. I completely agree with Wynton, the power really is in the now - the present moment. If you can learn to harness it, then you will be a great player. Too often people are stuck in their heads when they’re improvising, too concerned about what they think they should be playing, what they think they want to play. Thinking about licks and techniques. The lesson here is that of course you need to think about what you’re doing and what techniques you’re playing when you’re practising! But when it comes to the performance, surrender yourself to the present moment and trust the power of now.
5. “Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn. They teach you there’s a boundary line to music. But, man, there’s no boundary line to art.” - Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker was an epic, bebop, alto sax, pioneer. This quote is similar to the 2nd quote of our list, by Louis Armstrong. But Parker takes it further, with his remarks on boundary lines. What I take from this, is that you’ve got to be true to yourself and there’s no real limit to what that could be. I’m reminded of Ornette Coleman, who, if you haven’t heard of him, played some far-out stuff - some very free jazz. But, importantly, he played how he wanted to play and took jazz in a direction he wanted to go.
So you’ve just got to do things your way. And that might be playing very simply, like the 1st quote from Miles Davis, or it could be some crazy playing. But it will be authentic to you! Thanks for reading and I hope it’s inspired you!
If you’re still feeling disheartened, check out this video: