"There's a way of playing safe, there's a way of using tricks and there's the way I like to play, which is dangerously where you're going to take a chance on making mistakes in order to create something you haven't created before"
About this Quote
The key word is “dangerously,” because Brubeck isn’t romanticizing chaos. He’s naming the real cost of innovation in jazz: you can miss the changes, crack the tempo, land on an ugly note, and everyone will hear it. That public exposure is the point. Mistakes become data, the friction that tells you you’re not just repeating yourself. In a music culture that often rewards polish and punishes failure, he’s insisting that the only honest route to “something you haven’t created before” runs straight through embarrassment.
Context matters: Brubeck’s whole career was an argument for stretching form without abandoning swing. Odd time signatures, classical structures, a cool-jazz clarity that still wanted the heat of improvisation. This is the ethos behind Time Out and every live set where a tune had to be rebuilt in real time. He’s not advising recklessness; he’s defending the musician’s right to be temporarily imperfect in service of becoming new.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
|---|---|
| Source | "There's a way of playing safe, there's a way of using tricks and there's the way I like to play which is dangerously where you're going to take a chance on making mistakes in order to create something you haven't created before" — Dave Brubeck. Source: Wikiquote (Dave Brubeck). |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Brubeck, Dave. (2026, February 16). There's a way of playing safe, there's a way of using tricks and there's the way I like to play, which is dangerously where you're going to take a chance on making mistakes in order to create something you haven't created before. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/theres-a-way-of-playing-safe-theres-a-way-of-130063/
Chicago Style
Brubeck, Dave. "There's a way of playing safe, there's a way of using tricks and there's the way I like to play, which is dangerously where you're going to take a chance on making mistakes in order to create something you haven't created before." FixQuotes. February 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/theres-a-way-of-playing-safe-theres-a-way-of-130063/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"There's a way of playing safe, there's a way of using tricks and there's the way I like to play, which is dangerously where you're going to take a chance on making mistakes in order to create something you haven't created before." FixQuotes, 16 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/theres-a-way-of-playing-safe-theres-a-way-of-130063/. Accessed 5 Mar. 2026.
