Anybody can make the simple complecated. Creativity is making the complecated simple. Charles Mingus More Quotes by Charles Mingus More Quotes From Charles Mingus Our nights didn't begin until after noon. Because in the old days, you'd start Birdland at 8:30 or 9 pm and play until 4 in the morning. Then you'd go out to the corner and talk to a couple of musicians - I used to talk to Oscar Pettiford a whole lot - you'd stand there till 7, 8 or 9, or else go down to the jam session at Minton's. Charles Mingus couplemorningnight Whatever coast he's on, a man should be himself. I don't write in any particular idiom, I write Charles Mingus. Charles Mingus stylewritingmen If you think this is weird, just look at yourselves. Charles Mingus ifslooksthinking I'm too busy playing. When I'm playing I don't pay attention to who's listening. When I was listening I listened to symphony orchestras, Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Stravinsky. You don't listen to one instrument; you listen to music. Charles Mingus symphonylisteningattention Making the simple complicated is commonplace. Charles Mingus plain-languagecreativitysimple Everything I do is Mingus. Charles Mingus jazz Let my children have music! Let them hear live music. Charles Mingus my-childrenmusicchildren 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'. Charles Mingus guybirdpeople Tastes are created by the business interests. How else can you explain the popularity of Al Hirt? Charles Mingus alsjazztaste I always thought that no matter what kind of work people did, they should involve themselves totally with all the discrimination they ran into. Charles Mingus discriminationmatterpeople 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 Mingus musicplaywriting What do you think happens to a composer who is sincere and loves to write and has to wait thirty years to have someone play a piece of his music? Charles Mingus expressionwritingthinking Since the white man says he came from the evolution of animals, well, maybe the black man didn't. The white man has made so many errors in the handling of people that maybe he did come from a gorilla or a fish and crawl up on the sand and then into the trees. Of course, evolution doesn't take God into consideration. I don't think people learned to do all the things they do through evolution. Charles Mingus godmenthinking I always wanted to be a spontaneous composer. Charles Mingus spontaneousjazzmusic In high school I was on the basketball team, but the coach did something I didn't dig and the next day he looked up and saw me practising with the football team. Charles Mingus teambasketballfootball I was born swinging and clapped my hands in church as a little boy, but I've grown up and I like to do things other than just swing. But blues can do more than just swing. Charles Mingus swingsboyshands If someone has been escaping reality, I don't expect him to dig my music. Charles Mingus escapingmusicreality Most of the soloists at Birdland had to wait for Parker's next record in order to find out what to play next. What will they do now? Charles Mingus waitingplayorder That sound in tune to you?.. Sounds sharp to me. Sounds like I'm playing sharp all the time. My singing teacher told us you should do that. Maybe I got it from her. She said singers when they grow old have a tendency to go flat. So if you sing sharp as a young person, as you get older and go flat, you'll be in tune. In other words, it's never thought good to be flat. It means you can't get to the tone. Charles Mingus singingteachermean Jazz is the language of the emotions. Charles Mingus jazzemotionlanguage
