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I admire anyone who can come up with something original. But not originality alone, because there can be originality in stupidity, with no musical description of any emotion or any beauty the man has seen, or any kind of life he has lived.

— 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.