Wynton Marsalis Trumpet Quotes & Sayings

Having heard Clifford Brown play all those fast runs, I used to really practice Clarke trumpet exercises all day long so that I could play fast. That's all I wanted to do. I was like a child with a toy. — Wynton Marsalis

I've never heard anything Wynton [Marsalis] played sound like it meant anything at all. Wynton has no voice and no presence. His music sounds like a talented high-school trumpet player to me ... he's jazzy the same way someone who drives a BMW is sporty. — Keith Jarrett

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. — Wynton Marsalis

I wouldn't argue that anyone living can play the trumpet better than Wynton Marsalis. — Christian Scott

Today you go into make a modern recording with all this technology. The bass plays first, then the drums come in later, then they track the trumpet and the singer comes in and they ship the tape somewhere. Well, none of the musicians have played together. You can't play jazz music that way. In order for you to play jazz, you've got to listen to them. The music forces you at all times to address what other people are thinking and for you to interact with them with empathy and to deal with the process of working things out. And that's how our music really could teach what the meaning of American democracy is. — Wynton Marsalis

I'm not a person who writes really abstract things with oblique references. I look at abstraction like I look at condiments. Give me some Tabasco sauce, some ketchup, some mayonnaise. I love all of that. Put it on a trumpet. I've just got to have the ketchup and Tabasco sauce. That's my attitude about musical philosophy. — Wynton Marsalis

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. — Wynton Marsalis

Trumpet players are just belligerant, and cocky, and you know, just hard-headed. — Wynton Marsalis

The first time I ever played the trumpet in public, I played the Marine Hymn. I sounded terrible. — Wynton Marsalis

Milk in a mother's breast-that's cool. Milk in a mouth-that's cool too. But milk in my trumpet? Not so cool. I have to play that thing. — Wynton Marsalis

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. — Wynton Marsalis

Trumpet players see each other, and it's like we're getting ready to square off or get into a fight or something. — Wynton Marsalis