Charles Mingus

Just because I'm playing jazz I don't forget about me. I play or write me, the way I feel, through jazz, or whatever.

I am Charles Mingus, half black man, not even white enough to pass for nothing but black. I am Charles Mingus, a famed jazzman, but not famed enough to make a living in this society.

Jazz music is a language of the emotions.

Let my children have music! Let them hear live music.

My music is evidence of my soul's will to live.

I never heard my music played the way I heard it in my head.

It (jazz) isn't like it used to be. The guys aren't together. They're all separated. Individuals now. Bird was a symbol. It was a clique, a clique of people. Who all believed in one thing: gettin' high. And playin'.

Anybody can make the simple complecated. Creativity is making the complecated simple.

If Charlie Parker were a Gunslinger, There'd be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats