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" The young very seldom lead anything in our country today. It's been quite some time since a younger generation pushed an older one to a higher standard. "
Wynton Marsalis
Country
Generation
Young
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" The bandstand is a sacred place. "
Wynton Marsalis
Bandstand
Place
Sacred
" Jazz comes from our way of life, and because it's our national art form, it helps us to understand who we are. "
Wynton Marsalis
Jazz
Art
Way
" Generally, when I wake up in the morning I set out a series of problems for myself and I write them down, and when I'm sleeping, my mind solves the problems. When I wake up in the morning, I have more clarity on the issue. "
Wynton Marsalis
Morning
Problems
Wake Up
" Ethics are more important than laws. "
Wynton Marsalis
More
Than
Laws
" I wanted to make somebody feel like Coltrane made me feel, listening to it. "
Wynton Marsalis
Somebody
Feel
Like
" I sounded like myself. People be saying I sound like Miles or Clifford Brown. "
Wynton Marsalis
Sound
Saying
People
" My father is a jazz musician, so I grew up hearing jazz. My parents loved it, but I didn't like it. It went on for too long. Yes, I had certain teachers that really inspired me, like Danny Barker, and John Longo. And I had no idea that I would have any impact on jazz. "
Wynton Marsalis
Long
Parents
Me
" 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
" 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
" 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
" Jazz music is America's past and its potential, summed up and sanctified and accessible to anybody who learns to listen to, feel, and understand it. The music can connect us to our earlier selves and to our better selves-to-come. It can remind us of where we fit on the time line of human achievement, an ultimate value of art. "
Wynton Marsalis
Time
Past
Art
" I try to find the core values that are so fundamental that they transcend ethnic identity. That doesn't mean I run from it. I embrace African-American culture and I love it and embrace it, but it is a part of a human identity. So I'm always trying to make a larger human statement. "
Wynton Marsalis
Identity
Love
Run
" It's important to address young people in the reopening of New Orleans. In rebuilding, let's revisit the potential of American democracy and American glory. "
Wynton Marsalis
Potential
Democracy
American
" Trumpet players see each other, and it's like we're getting ready to square off or get into a fight or something. "
Wynton Marsalis
See
Ready
Like
" 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
" The best way to be, is to do. "
Wynton Marsalis
Way
Best Way
Best
" The first time I ever played the trumpet in public, I played the Marine Hymn. I sounded terrible. "
Wynton Marsalis
First Time
Public
Time
" There's so much spirit of integration and democracy in jazz. "
Wynton Marsalis
Jazz
Democracy
Spirit
" My mother always took my brothers and me to music lessons. There were six children. Our parents attended our concerts and encouraged us to study and enjoy many different types of music. "
Wynton Marsalis
Us
Parents
Mother
" There was one thing Beethoven didn't do. When one of his string quartets was played, you can believe the second violin wasn't improvising. "
Wynton Marsalis
One Thing
Second
Violin
" My daddy thought - no, he expected - that my brothers and I and our generation would make the world a better place. He was correct in his belief because he had lived in an America of continual social progress, depression followed by prosperity, segregation by integration, and so on. "
Wynton Marsalis
Progress
World
Depression
" 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
" Thank the good Lord for a job. "
Wynton Marsalis
Lord
Good
Thank
" I generally work right up to when I have to do something - I'm always doing a lot. "
Wynton Marsalis
Doing
Lot
Up
" We looked up to our father. He still is much greater than us. "
Wynton Marsalis
Father
Up
Still
" 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
" 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
" I play piano and drums very poorly and French horn and tuba all equally as bad. "
Wynton Marsalis
Drums
Bad
Play
" Only a few act - the rest of us reap the benefits of their risk. "
Wynton Marsalis
Reap
Act
Rest
" 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