I play piano and drums very poorly and French horn and tuba all equally as bad.
— Wynton Marsalis
When I first came to New York everybody on the scene would treat me like I could play, but I couldn't.
Whenever you face a man who's playing your instrument, there's a competition.
The young very seldom lead anything in our country today. It's been quite some time since a younger generation pushed an older one to a higher standard.
This rebuilding of New Orleans gives us the perfect opportunity to see if we're ready to extend the legacy of Dr. King.
I always read all these books about the slaves. My mother is very educated. My father would talk to us like we were grown men. We never knew what he was talking about half the time.
I didn't want to get that ring around my lips from practicing the trumpet, because I thought the girls wouldn't like me. So I never practiced.
I feel like a lot of the fundamental material, I've assimilated. So now the question is: Am I going to really get into my spiritual inheritance of music and really develop my abilities?
What I really have in my head, my imagination, my understanding of music, I never really get that out.
The bandstand is a sacred place.
There are forces all around you who wish to exploit division, rob you of your freedom, and tell you what to think. But young folks can rekindle the weary spirit of a slumbering nation.
The rebuilding of New Orleans is an important point in the history of the United States.
Only a few act - the rest of us reap the benefits of their risk.
When did we begin to lose faith in our ability to effect change?
Through first-class education, a generation marches down the long uncertain road of the future with confidence.
Don't worry about what others say about your music. Pursue whatever you are hearing... but if everybody really hates your music maybe you could try some different approaches.
I dress up a certain way because I respect the music.
People have taken time out of their day and spent their money to come sit down at a concert. And it's jazz music-it's not easy for them to get to it. I don't want them ever to feel that I'm taking their presence lightly.
Trumpet players see each other, and it's like we're getting ready to square off or get into a fight or something.
Don't settle for style. Succeed in substance.
It was Dr. King's tireless activism that fostered our modern way of relating to one another.
We looked up to our father. He still is much greater than us.
The first time I ever played the trumpet in public, I played the Marine Hymn. I sounded terrible.
Jazz is not the kind of music you are going to learn to play in three or four years or that you can just get because you have some talent for music.
I sounded like myself. People be saying I sound like Miles or Clifford Brown.
Thank the good Lord for a job.
We always hear about the rights of democracy, but the major responsibility of it is participation.
What, other than injustice, could be the reason that the displaced citizens of New Orleans cannot be accommodated by the richest nation in the world?
There really have only ever been a few people in each generation who step out, are willing to put themselves on the line, and risk everything for their beliefs.
My daddy expected that my brothers and I and our generation would make the world a better place. He had lived in an America of continual social progress.
I wanted to make somebody feel like Coltrane made me feel, listening to it.
The nerves are a problem on trumpet, because when you mess up everyone can hear it. Just remember most people are too polite to say anything about it. That should calm your nerves.
Even in these times, there are still neighbors that will turn their backs on neighbors.
There's the tradition in jazz of having the Battle of the Bands, and you do not want to get your head cut when you're playing.
Don't wish for someone else to do later what you can do now.
It's important to address young people in the reopening of New Orleans. In rebuilding, let's revisit the potential of American democracy and American glory.
I believed in studying just because I knew education was a privilege. It was the discipline of study, to get into the habit of doing something that you don't want to do.
My older brother and myself always played together in bands, but we never knew we would be professional musicians.
I got my first trumpet when I was six years old, from Al Hirt. My father was playing in Al Hirt's band at that time.
You need a team. You need people to push you. You need opponents.
The musicians I respected were much older than me. I expected them to cut my head, and they did.
I believe in professionalism, but playing is not like a job. You have to be grateful to have the opportunity to play.
The best way to be, is to do.
I have absolutely no idea what my generation did to enrich our democracy. We dropped the ball. We entered a period of complacency and closed our eyes to the public corruption of our democracy.
Maybe the preoccupation with technological progress has overshadowed our concern with human progress.
Many a revolution started with the actions of a few. Only 56 men signed the Declaration of Independence. A few hanging together can lead a nation to change.
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?'
There was one thing Beethoven didn't do. When one of his string quartets was played, you can believe the second violin wasn't improvising.
