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" There's so much spirit of integration and democracy in jazz. "
Wynton Marsalis
Jazz
Democracy
Spirit
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" Don't settle for style. Succeed in substance. "
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Substance
Succeed
Style
" 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
" 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 musicians I respected were much older than me. I expected them to cut my head, and they did. "
Wynton Marsalis
Me
Than
Older
" The blues. It runs through all American music. Somebody bending the note. The other is the two-beat groove. It's in New Orleans music, it's in jazz, it's in country music, it's in gospel. "
Wynton Marsalis
Country
Blues
American
" 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
" Whenever you face a man who's playing your instrument, there's a competition. "
Wynton Marsalis
Face
Competition
You
" Jazz is not the kind of music you are going to learn to play in three or four years or that you can just get because you have some talent for music. "
Wynton Marsalis
You
Jazz
Music
" The first time I ever played the trumpet in public, I played the Marine Hymn. I sounded terrible. "
Wynton Marsalis
First Time
Public
Time
" I didn't want to get that ring around my lips from practicing the trumpet, because I thought the girls wouldn't like me. So I never practiced. "
Wynton Marsalis
Never
Lips
Me
" 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
" 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
" The bandstand is a sacred place. "
Wynton Marsalis
Bandstand
Place
Sacred
" My older brother and myself always played together in bands, but we never knew we would be professional musicians. "
Wynton Marsalis
Myself
Brother
Together
" It was Dr. King's tireless activism that fostered our modern way of relating to one another. "
Wynton Marsalis
Our
Modern
King
" There's always the cliche of the choir shouting and clapping. OK, you have to do that, but there's also introspective parts, parts where you just follow someone that's preaching. There's lots of different emotions and moods that a service requires. "
Wynton Marsalis
Someone
Service
You
" 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
" 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
" 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
" When you create change with your point of view, you have to be ready for what comes with that. "
Wynton Marsalis
Point Of View
View
You
" 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
" The heart of a music is its rhythm. The heart of rhythm section music is the rhythm. "
Wynton Marsalis
Music
Rhythm
Section
" 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
" Jazz music creates so many phenomenal figures. "
Wynton Marsalis
Figures
Jazz
Phenomenal
" 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'm not afraid of you being yourself. That's America. "
Wynton Marsalis
You
Afraid
America
" I became a man in New York. New York made me the musician that I am and the person that I am, so it's impossible for me to say I regret having lived there. "
Wynton Marsalis
Impossible
I Am
Man
" Because the blues is the basis of most American music in the 20th century. It's a 12-bar form that's played by jazz, bluegrass and country musicians. It has a rhythmic vocabulary that's been used by rock n' roll. It's related to spirituals, and even the American fiddle tradition. "
Wynton Marsalis
American
Jazz
Music
" We looked up to our father. He still is much greater than us. "
Wynton Marsalis
Father
Up
Still
" 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