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.

Thelonius Monk went over to Bird and Bud Powell and said, 'I told you guys to act crazy, but I didn't tell you to fall in love with the act. You're really crazy now.'

I was born swinging and clapped my hands in church as a little boy, but I've grown up and I like to do things other than just swing. But blues can do more than just swing.

I was always doing revolutionary things, things that would alert people, so they would stop being so subservient.

Most customers, by the time the musicians reach the second set, are to some extent inebriated. They don't care what you play anyway.

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?