Miles Davis Said It

"Monk has really helped me. When I came to New York, he taught me chords and his tunes. A main influence he has been through the years has been has to do with giving musicians more freedom. They feel that if Monk can do what he does, they can.

“Monk has been using space for a long time. The thing that Monk must realize is that he can't get everybody to play his songs right. Coltrane, Milt Jackson and maybe Lucky Thompson are the only ones I know that can get that feeling out of his songs that he can. And he needs drummers like Denzil Best, [Art] Blakey, Shadow [Wilson], Roy Haynes, and Philly [Joe Jones]. I love the way Monk plays and writes, but I can't stand him behind me. He doesn't give you any support."

--Miles Davis in An Afternoon with Miles Davis (1958) by Nat Hentoff, from the book Jazz Panorama: From the Pages of The Jazz Review.