Charles Mingus Messages

If Charlie Parker were a Gunslinger, There'd be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats

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.

I've got a feeling that if it's so easy for you - the struggle and the initiative are not as strong as they are for a person who has to struggle and therefore has more to say.

They're singing your praises while stealing your phrases.

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.'

If someone has been escaping reality, I don't expect him to dig my music.

Jazz is the language of the emotions.

I always thought that no matter what kind of work people did, they should involve themselves totally with all the discrimination they ran into.

Whatever coast he's on, a man should be himself. I don't write in any particular idiom, I write Charles Mingus.

Just because I'm playing jazz I don't forget about me. I play or write me, the way I feel, through jazz, or whatever.