Quotes by Wynton Marsalis

About Wynton Marsalis:

Wynton Learson Marsalis is a trumpeter, composer, teacher, music educator, and artistic director of jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, United States. Marsalis has promoted the appreciation of classical and jazz music often to young audiences. Marsalis has been awarded nine Grammys in both genres, and his Blood on the Fields was the first jazz composition to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. Marsalis is the son of jazz musician Ellis Marsalis, Jr. (pianist), grandson of Ellis Marsalis, Sr., and brother of Branford (saxophonist), Delfeayo (trombonist), and Jason (drummer). He performed the national anthem of Super Bowl XX in 1986.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

There's so much spirit of integration and democracy in jazz.

Wynton Marsalis

I sounded like myself. People be saying I sound like Miles or Clifford Brown.

Wynton Marsalis

This rebuilding of New Orleans gives us the perfect opportunity to see if we're ready to extend the legacy of Dr. King.

Wynton Marsalis

Even in these times, there are still neighbors that will turn their backs on neighbors.

Wynton Marsalis

I play piano and drums very poorly and French horn and tuba all equally as bad.

Wynton Marsalis

Duke Ellington always had a style: original, clean with interesting color combinations. He had an artist's eye.

Wynton Marsalis

Musicians like to converse. There's always interesting conversation with musicians - with classical musicians, with jazz musicians, musicians in general.

Wynton Marsalis

I think that the blues is in everything, so it's not possible to neglect it. You hear somebody go 'Ooh ooh oooh,' and that's the blues. You hear a rock n' roll song. That's the blues. Somebody playing a guitar solo? They're playing the blues.

Wynton Marsalis

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

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

My schedule is always tight. But I like to have the pressure of having to finish doing something; it gives me an added edge.

Wynton Marsalis

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

When me and my brother would go to see our daddy playing, there'd be 30 people in the audience. I was only 14 or 15, but I realised something was wrong.

Wynton Marsalis

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

If you are serious about American culture and you are serious about Afro-American culture, you are in a lot of pain. You are not - you are not smiling about it.

Wynton Marsalis

Today you go into make a modern recording with all this technology. The bass plays first, then the drums come in later, then they track the trumpet and the singer comes in and they ship the tape somewhere. Well, none of the musicians have played toge...

Wynton Marsalis

The thing in jazz that will get Bix Beiderbecke out of his bed at two o’clock in the morning, pick that cornet up and practice into the pillow for another two or three hours, or that would make Louis Armstrong travel around the world for fifty plus...

Wynton Marsalis

it ain't as hard as picking cotton

Wynton Marsalis

Jazz is not just 'Well, man, this is what I feel like playing.' It's a very structured thing that comes down from a tradition and requires a lot of thought and study.

Wynton Marsalis

Music is always for the listener, but the first listener is always the musician

Wynton Marsalis

Jazz is democracy in music.

Wynton Marsalis

Author Bio

  • NameWynton Marsalis
  • DescriptionAmerican musician
  • BornOctober 18, 1961
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionComposer; Trumpeter; Bandleader; Conductor; Jazz Musician