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
My music is evidence of my soul's will to live.
Interpretation
The quote expresses that music is a reflection of one's inner self and a testament to the desire to exist.
Charles Mingus suggests that his music serves as an embodiment of his spirit and determination to live. Music, in this context, becomes more than just sound; it becomes a vital expression of one's emotions, battles, and the innate will for life. Each note and composition resonates with the depths of his experience, illustrating how art can serve as a powerful testament to human existence.
In practice
In a speech about the impact of art, one might use this quote to emphasize how music reflects our deep emotional experiences.
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.
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'.
I'm the evil mastermind behind the scenes. I'm the wicked puppeteer who pulls the strings and makes you dance. I'm your writer.
Dance music ... stirs some barbaric instinct - lulled asleep in our sober lives - you forget centuries of civilization in a second, & yield to that strange passion which sends you madly whirling round the room.
The visible imperfections of hand-wrought goods, being honorific, are accounted marks of superiority in point of beauty, or serviceability, or both.
The more I think about it, the more I realize there is nothing more artistic than to love others.
Music was never just a hobby for me. I'd pick up a guitar every day to work on whatever I was writing at the time. I would put my ideas in songs the way some people might put them in diaries or journals.
But me writing sad songs doesn't mean I am a sad person.
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