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I, myself, came to enjoy the players who didn't only just swing but who invented new rhythmic patterns, along with new melodic concepts.

— Charles Mingus What Is A Jazz Composer? (1971)

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More quotes by Charles Mingus

Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.

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?

Setting the Tempo : Fifty Years of Great Jazz Liner Notes (1996)

In my music, I'm trying to play the truth of what I am. The reason it's difficult is because I'm changing all the time.

Good jazz is when the leader jumps on the piano, waves his arms, and yells.

I always wanted to be a spontaneous composer.

What Is A Jazz Composer? (1971)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Charles Mingus (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.