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.
Charles MingusRead
Jazz music is a language of the emotions.
Interpretation
Jazz music expresses deep feelings and emotions, serving as a powerful mode of communication.
In this quote, Charles Mingus suggests that jazz music transcends mere notes and rhythms, instead serving as a profound expression of human emotions. By referring to it as a 'language,' he highlights its ability to convey feelings, experiences, and moods that words often cannot capture, emphasizing the emotional depth and artistry within jazz.
In practice
In a discussion about musical genres that express profound feelings, this quote can highlight the unique emotional depth of jazz.
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.
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'.
The authour who imitates his predecessors only by furnishing himself with thoughts and elegances out of the same general magazine of literature, can with little more propriety be reproached as a plagiary, than the architect can be censured as a mean copier of Angelo or Wren, because he digs his marble out of the same quarry, squares his stones by the same art, and unites them in columns of the same orders.
There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium, and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.
In any society, the artist has a responsibility. His effectiveness is certainly limited and a painter or writer cannot change the world. But they can keep an essential margin of non-conformity alive. Thanks to them the powerful can never affirm that everyone agrees with their acts. That small difference is important.
The thing that influenced me most was the way Tommy played his trombone. It was my idea to make my voice work in the same way as a trombone or violin-not sounding like them, but "playing" the voice like those instrumentalists.
Some actors, I think, want to feel that they are as creative as the writer. And the answer is, frankly, they're not.
My life is shaped by the urgent need to wander and observe, and my camera is my passport.
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