They're not particular whether you're playing a flat 5th or a ruptured 129th as long as they can dance.
Dizzy GillespieRead
Learn to play the piano, man, and then you can figure out crazy solos of your own.
Interpretation
Mastering a skill allows for personal creativity and expression.
This quote by Dizzy Gillespie emphasizes the importance of acquiring foundational skills, such as learning an instrument, as a means to unlock one's potential for creativity and unique expression. By first understanding the basics, one can then innovate and develop their own artistic style, making the music truly personal and original.
In practice
During a music class, a teacher could use this quote to inspire students to practice diligently.
They're not particular whether you're playing a flat 5th or a ruptured 129th as long as they can dance.
How do I know why Miles walks off the stage? Why don't you ask him? And besides, maybe we'd all like to be like Miles, and just haven't got the guts.
I'd like to play for you one of my compositions, my only composition.
I don't care much about music. What I like is sounds.
I always try to teach by example and not force my ideas on a young musician. One of the reasons we're here is to be a part of this process of exchange.
They're not particular about whether you're playing a flatted fifth or a ruptured 129th as long as they can dance to it.
Hurry, get on board, it's comin', listen to those rails a-thrumming all aboard. Get on the "A" train, soon you will be on Sugar Hill in Harlem.
I only knew classical music, which to me was the only true music. The only way I could survive at the bar was to mix the classical music with popular songs, and that meant I had to sing. What happened was that I discovered I had a voice plus the talent to mix classical music together with more popular songs, which at the time I detested.
I've been getting interested in reimagining folk songs and writing songs that should have existed but didn't, particularly around the Civil War when black voices were muted and only allowed particular channels.
I wasn't a jazz player, but a classical musician, and I improvised arrangements of popular songs using classical motifs.
I approach everything as chamber music. Even with Beethoven symphonies, I lead from the violin and basically encourage the orchestra to think of it as a giant string quartet.
The rock & roll industry is very incestuous, and we have all been close at one time or another. A lot of beautiful music and a lot of beautiful times came from that. A lot of pain, too, because, inevitably, different relationships broke up.
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