Eddie Jefferson

My music had roots which I’d dug up from my own childhood, musical roots buried in the darkest soil.

I was probably six years old when I first sang before an audience.

I’ve always liked the Freddie King/B. B. King rich tone, and at the same time, I like the manic Buddy Guy/Otis Rush Strat tone. So I’m always caught in the middle of the Gibson and Fender sounds. If I’m playing my black [Fender] Strat, and I’m in the middle of a blues, I kind of wish I was playing a [Gibson] Les Paul. Then again, if I was playing a Les Paul, the sound would be great, but I’d be saying, “Man, I wish I had the Stratocaster neck!”

Give it a good go, try to have fun at it, try to pass on some good notes and some good sounds to your fans, and I don’t think you will have wasted your time.

A drummer has to be kind-hearted.

There’s a sadness to all kinds of music if you want to hear it. There’s also happiness to it if you want to hear it.

Man, you tell a story.

The value of music is not dazzling yourself and others with technique.

Play what you feel, feel what you play.

Eliminating the piano means that I’ve always worked closer with the bass than most players.

Despite the fact I’m a professional performer, it’s true that I have always preferred playing without an audience.

I’m my own most merciless critic onstage.

The music scene is more competitive in the States.

We in the Western world suffer from too many categories and classes; we’ve forgotten that we all still have diapers on. We’ve separated music from life.

Miles’ sessions were not typical of anybody else’s sessions. They were totally unique.