Friedrich Nietzsche

To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.

Faith: not wanting to know what is true.

In heaven all the interesting people are missing.

Those who were seen dancing were thought insane by those who could not hear the music.

He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.

The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends.

There’s always room for improvisation or changes of expression.

For me, the main thing is spontaneity and taking chances.

I’ve always wanted a C trumpet on top, to have that same kind of facility without shouting.

The point of Jazz is, you do something and then you go on.

I could see that Bukka was born to be a bluesman, and I wondered if the same was true of me. I worried that I didn’t have his talent – or the talent of someone like Blind Lemon or T-Bone. I felt something beautiful inside Bukka’s soul. Even if I didn’t follow his style, I was moved by his sincerity. He loved telling stories, and used his blues to tell them. His blues was the book of his life. He sang about his rough times and fast time and loving times and angry times. He’d entertain at a party for two hundred people with the same enthusiasm as a party for twenty. Bukka gave it his all. His music had a consistency I admired. Like all the great bluesmen, he said, I am what I am. I wondered if I could be that steady and strong.

I wasn’t interested in practicing Bach; I was too busy digging Horace Silver!

I’m going to make music out of whatever style it is, being true to the artform itself.

I guess what everyone wants more than anything else is to be loved. And to know that you loved me for my singing is too much for me. Forgive me if I don’t have all the words. Maybe I can sing it and you’ll understand.

Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.

What’s tied Jazz together is its foundation in the Blues, a reliance on group interplay and the unique phenomenon of spontaneous improvisation.

A Jazz musician is supposed to find his voice, find his niche and do his thing.

We all have idols. Play like anyone you care about but try to be yourself while you’re doing so.

Jazz music can relax, soothe and uplift the mind when you absorb it.

As far back as I can remember, singing was in my blood. My parents loved music, and I loved to sing. I was scatting at an early age.

Just give a drum roll, announce my name and I come out and sing. I have a contract that says I’m a singer. So I sing.