Dizzy Gillespie

“The whole thing of being in music is not to control it but to be swept away by it.”

“I don't care much about music. What I like is sounds.”

“It's taken me all my life to learn what not to play.”

“Men have died for this music. You can't get more serious than that.”

“I'm always a little bit ahead of myself.”

“The music of Africa is big sound: it's the sound of a community.”

“The idea is to make your own sound, a sound that is you.”

“Some people say, 'I'm a man of God.' I say, 'I'm a man of music.'”

“Bebop is the music of the future.”

“You have to be a little bit crazy to play this music.”

“The first thing I look for in a musician is whether he knows how to listen.”

“Music is my mistress, and she plays second fiddle to no one.”

“The sign of a mature musician is knowing what not to play.”

“In my music, I'm trying to play the truth of what I am.”

“I try to teach my students that there is no 'right' or 'wrong' way to play jazz.”