A few words from Miles Davis:

"They say “freedom,” but they only mean freedom for themselves."

“The first piano music Art Tatum ever heard was two boogie-woogie piano players on a cylinder. He didn’t know there were two of them. He thought that’s the way a piano should sound and he learned how to play like two piano players at the same time.”

"Bird and Dizzy, Bud Powell, the beauty in their playing is the way they add on to a chord. A chord is given, so add on to it, instead of changing it completely. Mingus would be walking along straight and all of a sudden he’d walk down five steps. I’d say, ‘Mingus! How can you do that? You hear what the tune’s doing.’ But he was so stubborn."

"…you have to let people think for themselves a little bit.”

"...W-H-Y is always my first word, you know."

"If you can hear a note, you can play it."

"Weird stuff came out of my nose."