In my music, I'm trying to play the truth of what I am.

I am Charles Mingus, half black man, not even white enough to pass for nothing but black. I am Charles Mingus, a famed jazzman, but not famed enough to make a living in this society.

Most of the soloists at Birdland had to wait for Parker's next record in order to find out what to play next. What will they do now?

Bach is how buildings got taller. It's how we got to the moon.

Anybody can make the simple complecated. Creativity is making the complecated simple.

Creativity is more than just being different. Anybody can plan weird; that's easy. What's hard is to be as simple as Bach. Making the simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.

Jazz is the language of the emotions.