Don't settle for style. Succeed in substance.
Wynton Marsalis
2
Don't wish for someone else to do later what you can do now.
Wynton Marsalis
3
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
4
Even in these times, there are still neighbors that will turn their backs on neighbors.
Wynton Marsalis
5
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
6
I believe in professionalism, but playing is not like a job. You have to be grateful to have the opportunity to play.
Wynton Marsalis
7
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
8
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
9
I feel like a lot of the fundamental material, I've assimilated. So now the question is: Am I going to really get into my spiritual inheritance of music and really develop my abilities?
Wynton Marsalis
10
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
11
I have absolutely no idea what my generation did to enrich our democracy. We dropped the ball. We entered a period of complacency and closed our eyes to the public corruption of our democracy.
Wynton Marsalis
12
I wanted to make somebody feel like Coltrane made me feel, listening to it.
Wynton Marsalis
13
It was Dr. King's tireless activism that fostered our modern way of relating to one another.
Wynton Marsalis
14
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
15
Many a revolution started with the actions of a few. Only 56 men signed the Declaration of Independence. A few hanging together can lead a nation to change.
Wynton Marsalis
16
My daddy expected that my brothers and I and our generation would make the world a better place. He had lived in an America of continual social progress.
Wynton Marsalis
17
My older brother and myself always played together in bands, but we never knew we would be professional musicians.
Wynton Marsalis
18
Only a few act - the rest of us reap the benefits of their risk.
Wynton Marsalis
19
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
23
The rebuilding of New Orleans is an important point in the history of the United States.
Wynton Marsalis
24
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
25
There are forces all around you who wish to exploit division, rob you of your freedom, and tell you what to think. But young folks can rekindle the weary spirit of a slumbering nation.
Wynton Marsalis
26
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
27
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
28
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
29
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
30
We looked up to our father. He still is much greater than us.
Wynton Marsalis
31
What I really have in my head, my imagination, my understanding of music, I never really get that out.
Wynton Marsalis
32
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
33
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
34
When I first came to New York everybody on the scene would treat me like I could play, but I couldn't.
Wynton Marsalis
35
Whenever you face a man who's playing your instrument, there's a competition.
Wynton Marsalis
