Cab Calloway

Everybody came. Everybody came to the Cotton Club.

Everybody did something. It was very entertaining. We had a lot of fun. Lot of fun. And there was no segregation, that I could see. I never saw any.

A movie and a stage show are two entirely different things. A picture, you can do anything you want. Change it, cut out a scene, put in a scene, take a scene out. They don’t do that on stage.

Jazz was not only built in the minds of the great ones, but on the backs of the ordinary ones.

Everybody that you could name would join in our audiences from, Laguardia on down. Everybody came. Everybody came to the Cotton Club.

We usually never got out of there before four or five o’clock in the morning. Every morning. So it was rough.

I listen to all kinds of songs. There’s something to be learned from every type of music and from the one making it, whether it’s pop or jazz or hip-hop.

I’m meant to be an artist who can stand on my own. That’s my place; that’s what I’m supposed to do.

Music activates the brain at a high level.

Jazz without the Blues is like BBQ without the sauce.

Never play anything the same way twice.

My version of Georgia became the state song of Georgia. That was a big thing for me, man. It really touched me. Here is a state that used to lynch people like me suddenly declaring my version of a song as its state song. That is touching.

The sign of a mature musician is knowing what not to play.

If you’re making money people don’t think you’re playing Jazz. When you’re not making money they think you’re a great Jazz musician.

Jazz is not something that can be defined through blunt instruments. It is much more poetic than that.

There is no doubt that the first requirement for a composer is to be dead

I like people who have worked long and hard, developing through introspection and dedication.

I have a deep respect for harmony, melodic patterns and form.

Forgive me if I don’t have the words. Maybe I can sing it and you’ll understand.

I’m always looking to create new avenues or new visions of music.

Music used to be essential and meaningful, but now it’s disposable.