# Music by Genre > Jazz/Blues Variants, Bossa, Choro, Klezmer >  Miles Davis Quote

## Mike Herlihy

Not mando related, but I've been looking for a Miles Davis quote without any success. The quote is something like, "The space between the notes are just as important as the notes". Anyone know the exact quote?

I figure a jazzbo on the board must know it!

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## Jason Kessler

It wasn't Miles Davis, it was Rudy Vallee, and the quote was, "Darn it, Helen, is it TOO much to ask for ONE pair of socks without HOLES?"

I hope this has beeen helpful.

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## John Flynn

The website Quoteland.com attributes the following two quotes to the French composer, Claude Debussy:

"Music is the space between the notes." 

"Do not allow the accents in the brass to produce space between the notes."

I saw a similar quote on a guitar message board attributed to Thelonious Monk. But if Debussy said it, my guess is that if Davis or Monk had a similar quote, it was not original.

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## Ted Eschliman

My favorite quote on space is from the signs in the London subway systems:
"Mind the Gap."

Rather profound when you apply it to music...

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## Dan Johnson

uh... from what I know about Davis, it probably wouldn't be appropriate to post... :Smile:

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## Scott Tichenor

Much to be learned from his music. Highly recommend his autobiography by Quincy Troupe. Wonderful book full of a lot of great stories and colorful language  :Smile: .

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## SternART

that mo&%#@  f&%$#@ could really play...........but every other sentence in the book had him saying stuff like that mo&%#@  f&%$#@ Bill Evans did this, or that mo&%#@  f&%$#@ Coltrane played this........definitely not for everyone with the colorful language......but I liked it!

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## rmartinez

Well apparently this is from Miles Davis
Don't play what's there, play what's not there.  Maybe that's close to the OP subject?

One that I came across a couple of weeks ago was this one.  It really resonated with me.

"I've practiced my tone for almost 50 years, and if I can't hear my tone, I can't play. If I can't play, then I won't get paid. If I don't get paid, then I lose the house, you know? 
It's like a chain reaction. If I lose my tone, I can't ( :Whistling: ), can't make love, can't do nothin'. I'll just walk into the ocean and die, if I lose my tone."

I hope that's a clean enough version.  He's a colorful character indeed.
I think what grabbed me about this is that his sound was one of the first introductions to Jazz for me and it's his tone that grabbed me from day one. Some of the mandolin players that I really enjoy are not necessarily speed demons of the fretboard, though in some case they are.  It's the voice they pull out of an instrument that catches my ear.  Sorry to derail the conversation but there ya' have it.  My favorite Miles Davis quote.

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## AlanN

Your last paragraph: well-said. What catches the ear is what makes (Musician XYZ) a fave.

Miles' Kind Of Blue still resonates as a classic, that particular era, plus the earlier work in Bird's All Stars - fast, fast, fast. The later years didn't grab me so much.

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## allenhopkins

Might have been a quote _about_ Davis:
_ 
Jeff Sedlick, writing about the jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, commented, "Davis puts as much emphasis on the silence between the notes…"_
   -- found through Google searcn

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## Dan Hoover

i've kinda heard something like that before,might have been off the "cuff" in a interview on tv?but then?sometimes trying to understand what miles was saying?is like trying to understand what keith richards is saying??nothing against either one of the mo#*@%&**'s...to me,they are both musical legends...musical genius's??
  i'm sure,as posted above,others have said something very similar...my favorites miles quote is "Do not fear mistakes. There are none.”thats very jazz...
 that said,to me "Kind of Blue" is in my top 5 records if i was stranded on a island,and could only have 5...i will never forget the first time i listen to it...cheers

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## RichieK

My favorite Miles quote was 'Hey Bobby, what key do you sing 'Ruby' in, and do you think Mr. Haney will mind if I face the back of the stage at Berryville?'

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## SternART

You can usually tell it is Miles within just a few notes........how many musicians can you say that about?  Maybe Bill Evans, Coltrane, & Monk among the jazzers......Grappelli, Burns, Grisman, Rice, Flux, Bush, come to mind in acoustic music.  Jerry Garcia certainly had a "sound" as does Pat Metheny or Bill Frisell on electric.....of course these are examples among many others.......but Miles Davis certainly had a tone & sound of his own.

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## RichieK

Obviously I was trying to be a wise-guy with my prior post, but Art said it best..you can usually tell that you're listening to Miles after hearing just a few notes.

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## Dan Hoover

> Obviously I was trying to be a wise-guy with my prior post, but Art said it best..you can usually tell that you're listening to Miles after hearing just a few notes.


i saw it coming...didn't get the mr haney in berryville at first..i thought he was in hooterville??
  you know miles when you hear him...thats what makes the good ones great?when they're recognizable just by sound/style and how many others try to sound like them..

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## Tripp Johnson

Genius musician, composer, bandleader, instantly recognizable sound...maybe not always the easiest to get along with...certainly one of my favorite musicians ever.

There was a horn player (wanna say it was Coltrane, not 100% sure) talking with Miles about phrasing and leaving space...Miles' advice was to 'take the horn out of your mouth'... apologies for the crude paraphrasing, but you get the point.

I think about that a lot when I improvise.

I've often thought that as bandleaders, Miles and Monroe were a bit alike, if only for the incredible talent they both had for surrounding themselves with the 'right' musicians for the job and/or working with who they had.

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## Phillip Tigue

> that mo&%#@  f&%$#@ could really play...........but every other sentence in the book had him saying stuff like that mo&%#@  f&%$#@ Bill Evans did this, or that mo&%#@  f&%$#@ Coltrane played this........definitely not for everyone with the colorful language......but I liked it!


That's probably the most accurate description I've ever read...I just wish you'd included all the "I was shooting up with heroin this one time and...." references.  :Laughing:

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## SternART

> I've often thought that as bandleaders, Miles and Monroe were a bit alike, if only for the incredible talent they both had for surrounding themselves with the 'right' musicians for the job and/or working with who they had.


I've often used that comparison, and added David Grisman to that list.  Just like Miles' bandmates are a who's who of Jazz and Bill's BG Boys are a similar awesome list of great musicians........these band leaders are also like talent scouts, finding the next generation of young phenoms.......and the musicians they attract are so talented they often move on and have their own careers and front their own band. And in the transition eras the band leaders still put out great music.......working with who they have available.  Look at the stellar group of musicians who have gone to the Dawg school of music.  An inspiring list of incredible players!  I think in many cases the musicians also add to the mix, they share ideas & bring tunes to the group, and the band leader's music evolves and grows too.  These leaders take advantage of the skill sets of their fellow musicians....... Music is like team art........sometimes the sum of the parts is greater than the individuals.   One, and one, and one, when it is right, adds up to five!

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## AlanN

And to that august group, I would submit Doyle Lawson as Bandleader Extraordinaire.

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## Jim MacDaniel

Could this be the Miles quote you were looking for? (This may be mistated, but the oorigial intent is intact.)

"It’s not the notes you play; it’s the notes you _don’t_ play."

Here are a couple of similar thoughts on the subject. (I especially love the second one.)

"It’s taken me all my life to learn what _not_ to play." ~Dizzie Gillespy

"The pauses *between* the notes, _that's_ where the art resides!" ~Artur Schnabel

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## Jim MacDaniel

> uh... from what I know about Davis, it probably wouldn't be appropriate to post...


LOL! "_If they look too hip, they play like_ [expletive deletive]."

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## Jeremy Darrow

[QUOTE=
There was a horn player (wanna say it was Coltrane, not 100% sure) talking with Miles about phrasing and leaving space...Miles' advice was to 'take the horn out of your mouth'... apologies for the crude paraphrasing, but you get the point.

[/QUOTE]

It was 'Trane. As I heard the story, Miles was giving him a hard time for playing too many choruses. 'Trane said that he didn't know how to stop, Miles' advice was  "...take the ****ing horn out of your mouth."

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## Tripp Johnson

Thanks Jeremy!

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## Tripp Johnson

Arthur,

You're absolutely right, Grisman belongs right there with them.

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## brunello97

Quincy Troupe's biography of Miles is pretty great, however much that Stanley Crouch might want to take issue with it.  Troupe reminds us that Miles said he wanted to make his horn sound like the way Sinatra sang (so much for the simplistic notions of Davis's racism) and certainly the Chairman knew more than a bit about the space between syllables.  

The fact that Miles was equally taken with one Willie Hugh Nelson, enough to name a song after him suggests his interest in phrasing was ongoing and catholic.  By old age he had gone zealously electronic, but the idea of Dawg, Jerry and MDD playing together is tantalizing.  Thankfully, we have Garcia and Ornette Coleman together to prod the speculations. 

Mick

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