"The reason why the music is important is that it's an art form— an ancient art form— that takes in the mythology of our people."

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“Some stances are just conducive to swinging. If I stand up straight for too long it's harder to swing. Plus my feet hurt.”

“Flexibility is an essential part of Jazz. It's what gives Jazz music the ability to combine with all other types of music and not lose its identity.”

“I had a trumpet, but I didn't want to be a trumpet player. I wanted to be some type of athlete or in some type of scholarly activity, be a chemist or something—I had my little chemistry set, and I like playing with it.”

“I think that virtuosity is the first sign of morality in a musician. It means you're serious enough to practice.”

“They take your drawers off for you, they show your ass, they sell bullshit, they call themselves 'niggaz' and the women 'bitches' and 'hos' and it's fine with everybody. That's what the essence of decadence is.”

Resonant Thoughts

"I wish you were my sister. I'd teach you to have some confidence in yourself. The different people are not like other people, but being different is nothing to be ashamed of. Because other people are …"

— Tennessee Williams

Literature1911–1983

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"But I think people, especially white people, have to come to understand that the language of the ghetto is a language of its own, and as the party- whose members for the most part come from the ghetto…"

— Bobby Seale

Social Activism1936

#knowledge

"The sentiment of the Futurists was simpler. No space. Everything ought to keep going! That's probably the reason they went themselves. Either a man was a machine or else a sacrifice to make machines w…"

— Willem de Kooning

Art1904–1997

#philosophy