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" When you live in the South, you're constantly part of the civil rights movement. "
Wadada Leo Smith
You
Civil
Live
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" I always felt of myself as a composer, performer, improviser. I've never called myself a jazz man. I make art. "
Wadada Leo Smith
Myself
Never
Always
" I have been in dialogue with my family about what can actually be done. We've come up with this philosophy that in a truly multicultural society, the only way to have liberty and justice for everybody is to have multiple parties. And by multiple parties, I mean 50 parties, not one or two. "
Wadada Leo Smith
Philosophy
Family
Justice
" Jazz infers a style, but creative music has a wider field and wider specification about it. We know it from people like Scott Joplin and on through Bessie Smith. "
Wadada Leo Smith
Style
Know
Music
" I'm an optimist. I have always been, and I will continue to be. So I believe there's always a possibility of transforming or changing or doing something different. "
Wadada Leo Smith
Doing
Always
Believe
" I don't set out to win awards. I don't think any musician does, but when you receive an award, it's an affirmation: it means that people appreciate what you do. "
Wadada Leo Smith
Think
Award
People
" I think all art is, by nature, intended to motivate society for change, and the only reason change doesn't happen is because within the target population, courage is lacking. "
Wadada Leo Smith
Nature
Society
Change
" All art is political. Yes. Even the stuff that sounds like bubble-gum songs. I think all art is, by nature, intended to motivate society for change, and the only reason change doesn't happen is because within the target population, courage is lacking. "
Wadada Leo Smith
Courage
Nature
Art
" Everything and anything is valuable. "
Wadada Leo Smith
Anything
Everything
Valuable
" When I first started, I worked with my father, Alex 'Little Bill' Wallace; he was a guitarist like B.B. King. I was around 13 when I started, and I learned a lot by looking and listening. I learned how to be a bandleader from watching that band work. "
Wadada Leo Smith
Father
King
Listening
" The only thing that makes change possible is the idea of developing some kind of institution, because the institutions will survive individuals. "
Wadada Leo Smith
Change
Kind
Survive
" Seeing the bigger picture opens your eyes to what is the truth. "
Wadada Leo Smith
Seeing
Bigger
Eyes
" We have these old fashioned ideas. For instance, here in America, we talk about democracy - but we don't have a democracy. There are elements of a democracy. "
Wadada Leo Smith
Old
Democracy
America
" When Barack Obama was elected, it immediately brought out all the differences in society. "
Wadada Leo Smith
Differences
Society
Out
" I write all the time. I always have. I can pick up my horn to warm up, and an idea will pop into my head, and I'll write it down and file it away for another time. "
Wadada Leo Smith
Warm
Down
Time
" I started composing when I was around 13, and back then, people used to say that I needed to be a composer or a performer, but I can't be good at both of them. I could never understand why anyone would say that. Jellyroll did both, Bessie Smith did both, and so did I. "
Wadada Leo Smith
People
Say
Back
" From now back to the past, we can observe clearly that none of us is free. "
Wadada Leo Smith
Us
Back
Past
" The artist is the consciousness of society... but musicians' role is very special. "
Wadada Leo Smith
Musicians
Society
Special
" There's nothing unnatural in creation. "
Wadada Leo Smith
Unnatural
Nothing
Creation
" I've got that Beethoven energy, that Stravinsky energy. And it's all a gift from the Creator. "
Wadada Leo Smith
Beethoven
Got
Gift
" I wanted to identify that the black experience is American experience. "
Wadada Leo Smith
Experience
Black
American