When I first came to New York everybody on the scene would treat me like I could play but I couldn't.
Wynton MarsalisWe learn a language through its song, and even if you don't have music you have the song of people you love's voice, and you'll notice that song in their voice.
Wynton MarsalisThe first time I ever played the trumpet in public, I played the Marine Hymn. I sounded terrible.
Wynton MarsalisI believed in studying just because I knew education was a privilege. It was the discipline of study, to get into the habit of doing something that you don't want to do.
Wynton MarsalisThe nerves are a problem on trumpet, because when you mess up everyone can hear it. Just remember most people are too polite to say anything about it. That should calm your nerves.
Wynton MarsalisWe don't have the leadership or the understanding of the value of this, and when your political systems and your economic systems start to fail, it's only a cultural understanding that allows you to reconstruct them and to get back to who you are. For some reason, it hasn't dawned on us yet.
Wynton Marsalis