Wynton Marsalis Quotes

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 

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 

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 

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 

I got my first trumpet when I was six years old, from Al Hirt. My father was playing in Al Hirt's band at that time. 
Wynton Marsalis 

It was Dr. King's tireless activism that fostered our modern way of relating to one another. 
Wynton Marsalis 

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 

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 

My older brother and myself always played together in bands, but we never knew we would be professional musicians. 
Wynton Marsalis 

People have taken time out of their day and spent their money to come sit down at a concert. And it's jazz music-it's not easy for them to get to it. I don't want them ever to feel that I'm taking their presence lightly. 
Wynton Marsalis 

The first time I ever played the trumpet in public, I played the Marine Hymn. I sounded terrible. 
Wynton Marsalis 

The musicians I respected were much older than me. I expected them to cut my head, and they did. 
Wynton Marsalis 

The nerves are a problem on trumpet, because when you mess up everyone can hear it. Just remember most people are too polite to say anything about it. That should calm your nerves. 
Wynton Marsalis 

The rebuilding of New Orleans is an important point in the history of the United States. 
Wynton Marsalis 

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 

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 

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 

We looked up to our father. He still is much greater than us. 
Wynton Marsalis 

What I really have in my head, my imagination, my understanding of music, I never really get that out. 
Wynton Marsalis 

What, other than injustice, could be the reason that the displaced citizens of New Orleans cannot be accommodated by the richest nation in the world? 
Wynton Marsalis 

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 

When I first came to New York everybody on the scene would treat me like I could play, but I couldn't. 
Wynton Marsalis 

Whenever you face a man who's playing your instrument, there's a competition. 
Wynton Marsalis