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?'
Interpretation
The quote reflects the pressure of living up to a parent's legacy and the doubts that can arise from comparisons.
Wynton Marsalis shares a personal experience highlighting the challenges of trying to match the expectations set by a parent's reputation. His band director's surprise at his musical ability sheds light on the difficulties many face when they are overshadowed by the accomplishments of family members, illustrating the struggle between individual identity and familial legacy.
In practice
This quote can motivate young musicians to carve their own path despite parental expectations.
Swing is extreme coordination. It's a maintaining balance, equilibrium. It's about executing very difficult rhythms with a panache and a feeling in the context of very strict time. So, everything about the swing is about some guideline and some grid and the elegant way that you negotiate your way through that grid.
Many of our greatest musicians abandoned all of their aesthetic objectives to try to become pertinent. And, at the end of the day, they never became pop stars. I counter stated that very strongly, and I continue to do that.
Jazz music is the power of now. There is no script. It's conversation. The emotion is given to you by musicians as they make split-second decisions to fulfill what they feel the moment requires.
The blues. It runs through all American music. Somebody bending the note. The other is the two-beat groove. It's in New Orleans music, it's in jazz, it's in country music, it's in gospel.
In Jazz, improvisation isn't a matter of just making any ol' thing up. Jazz, like any language, has its own grammer and vocabulary. There's no right or wrong, just some choices that are better than others.
My daddy thought - no, he expected - that my brothers and I and our generation would make the world a better place. He was correct in his belief because he had lived in an America of continual social progress, depression followed by prosperity, segregation by integration, and so on.
It used to be called boogie-woogie, it used to be called blues, used to be called rhythm and blues...It's called rock now.
Things like guitars and ukuleles, you should never part with it, because there will probably be good, healthy times spent, just playing and writing.
Technically, I'm not a guitar player, all I play is truth and emotion.
There's no difference in a lot of people's minds between good musicians and popular musicians.
I want to see 10 female rappers getting regular rotation. It can't be all about a man's opinion.
I'm probably the only one in the world you can name that's worked with Billie Holiday, Louie Armstrong, Ella, Duke, Miles, Dizzy, Ray Charles, Aretha, Michael Jackson, rappers. 'Fly Me to the Moon' was played on the moon by Buzz Aldrin. Sinatra. Paul Simon. Tony Bennett. I'm the only one.
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