Art Blakey Quotes

#1. We're here to have a ball.

Art Blakey

#2. What ever truth drops on it eventually grinds to a powder.

Art Blakey

#3. Jazz washes away the dust of everyday life.

Art Blakey

#4. Jazz is known all over the world as an American musical art form and that's it. No America, no jazz. I've seen people try to connect it to other countries, for instance to Africa, but it doesn't have a damn thing to do with Africa.

Art Blakey

#5. They say that Jazz is back, and I don't think it's gone anywhere. But they say it's back.

Art Blakey

#6. Music is supposed to wash away the dust of everyday life.

Art Blakey

#7. If you feel like tapping your feet, tap your feet.

Art Blakey

#8. All you have to do is be able to feel.

Art Blakey

#9. The people know more about [Jazz] in other countries than in America. America is the last country to know about anything, because we're too fat, we have too much of everything, you understand? And we do not listen.

Art Blakey

#10. Who knows ... we'll be playing Jazz and having a good time!

Art Blakey

#11. It takes an intelligent ear to listen to Jazz.

Art Blakey

#12. That.s what Jazz music is all about.We started the Messengers because somebody had to mind the store for jazz.No America
no Jazz. It is the only culture that America has brought forth.

Art Blakey

#13. So go on and play, and if you make a mistake, make it loud so you won't make it next time.

Art Blakey

#14. A name doesn't make the music. It's just called that to differentiate it from other types of music.

Art Blakey

#15. You can't seperate modern jazz from rock or from rhythm and blues - you can't seperate it. Because that's where it all started, and that's where it all come from - that's where I learned to keep rhythm - in church.

Art Blakey

#16. There's nothing wrong with it. It's only a word. What's in a name? Nothing! Cats say, "Call me Muhammed so-and-so. "

Art Blakey

#17. Jazz, I mean, music will always move, because it can't become stagnant. Because if it becomes stagnant, it's like a river, it'll kill us all. It has to keep moving, music will always flow.

Art Blakey