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" Jazz celebrates older generations and not just the youth movement. When you 'sell' only to people of a certain age, you get cut off from the main body of experience. "
Wynton Marsalis
Age
Body
Experience
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" I never minded giving my opinions. They are just opinions, and I had studied music and I had strong feelings. I was happy for my opinions to join all the other opinions. But you have to be prepared for what comes back, especially if you don't agree with the dominant mythology. "
Wynton Marsalis
Music
Opinions
Strong
" The majority of the high schools and the public schools in N.Y.C. don't even have band programs. Hip-hop in a lot of ways is an outgrowth of a lack of instruments and a desire to play music, so we can't really fault the kids for that. "
Wynton Marsalis
Hip-Hop
Band
High
" When I first came to New York everybody on the scene would treat me like I could play, but I couldn't. "
Wynton Marsalis
Like
Treat
Play
" There really have only ever been a few people in each generation who step out, are willing to put themselves on the line, and risk everything for their beliefs. "
Wynton Marsalis
People
Step
Risk
" Don't worry about what others say about your music. Pursue whatever you are hearing... but if everybody really hates your music maybe you could try some different approaches. "
Wynton Marsalis
You
Say
Try
" I believed in studying just because I knew education was a privilege. It was the discipline of study, to get into the habit of doing something that you don't want to do. "
Wynton Marsalis
Discipline
Habit
Education
" Musicians like to converse. There's always interesting conversation with musicians - with classical musicians, with jazz musicians, musicians in general. "
Wynton Marsalis
Musicians
Interesting
Conversation
" What I really have in my head, my imagination, my understanding of music, I never really get that out. "
Wynton Marsalis
Head
Imagination
Understanding
" There's the tradition in jazz of having the Battle of the Bands, and you do not want to get your head cut when you're playing. "
Wynton Marsalis
Head
Tradition
Battle
" If you are serious about American culture and you are serious about Afro-American culture, you are in a lot of pain. You are not - you are not smiling about it. "
Wynton Marsalis
You
Culture
Pain
" I believe in professionalism, but playing is not like a job. You have to be grateful to have the opportunity to play. "
Wynton Marsalis
Believe
You
Opportunity
" I grew up in the South, in New Orleans, where guys torture you all the time. So I didn't really grow up on the self-esteem campaign. When you were lousy at something, they told you you were lousy, and they told you how to fix it. "
Wynton Marsalis
Self-Esteem
Grow Up
Grow
" I didn't have a philosophical understanding of music until I came to New York. I didn't understand how it applied to my kind and my generation. I thought it was just old people talking. "
Wynton Marsalis
New York
Kind
Thought
" The main three components are the blues, improvisation - which is some kind of element that people are trying to make it up - and swing, which means even though they're making up music, they're trying to make it up together. It feels great, like you're having a great conversation with somebody. "
Wynton Marsalis
You
People
Music
" Many a revolution started with the actions of a few. Only 56 men signed the Declaration of Independence. A few hanging together can lead a nation to change. "
Wynton Marsalis
Men
Change
Lead
" The history of jazz lets us know that this period in our history is not the only period we've come through together. If we truly understood the history of our national arts, we'd know that we have mutual aspirations, a shared history, in good times and bad. "
Wynton Marsalis
Good Times
History
Bad
" I think that the blues is in everything, so it's not possible to neglect it. You hear somebody go 'Ooh ooh oooh,' and that's the blues. You hear a rock n' roll song. That's the blues. Somebody playing a guitar solo? They're playing the blues. "
Wynton Marsalis
Rock
Song
Think
" I'm just lucky to have the type of friends and musicians and people dedicated to my music that I do. "
Wynton Marsalis
People
Musicians
Music
" You need a team. You need people to push you. You need opponents. "
Wynton Marsalis
Team
Push
People
" When I auditioned for my high school band the band director was excited because my father was known to be a great musician. When he heard me, he said 'Are you sure you're Ellis's son?' "
Wynton Marsalis
School
High School
Great
" I wanted to make somebody feel like Coltrane made me feel, listening to it. "
Wynton Marsalis
Somebody
Feel
Like
" I have absolutely no idea what my generation did to enrich our democracy. We dropped the ball. We entered a period of complacency and closed our eyes to the public corruption of our democracy. "
Wynton Marsalis
Democracy
Complacency
Corruption
" Swing is extreme coordination. It's a maintaining balance, equilibrium. It's about executing very difficult rhythms with a panache and a feeling in the context of very strict time. So, everything about the swing is about some guideline and some grid and the elegant way that you negotiate your way through that grid. "
Wynton Marsalis
Balance
You
Way
" Only a few act - the rest of us reap the benefits of their risk. "
Wynton Marsalis
Reap
Act
Rest
" I have friends who will critique me much harder than any review. "
Wynton Marsalis
Friends
Will
Who
" The musicians I respected were much older than me. I expected them to cut my head, and they did. "
Wynton Marsalis
Me
Than
Older
" Don't wish for someone else to do later what you can do now. "
Wynton Marsalis
Someone
Now
Later
" I always read all these books about the slaves. My mother is very educated. My father would talk to us like we were grown men. We never knew what he was talking about half the time. "
Wynton Marsalis
Father
Time
Talking
" Ethics are more important than laws. "
Wynton Marsalis
More
Than
Laws
" I generally work right up to when I have to do something - I'm always doing a lot. "
Wynton Marsalis
Doing
Lot
Up