Kevin Eubanks

Talent is only the starting point.

Stop before you’re done.

When Bird came on the scene, it was shocking as in the Bible: everything was dark and then there was light.

I never really thought about becoming a professional musician.

If you want to play somebody’s music, you’d better go into his house.

If you understood everything I say, you’d be me!

Jazz stands for freedom.

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

The hippest thing you can do is not play at all. Just listen.

I have a nice car, a Mercedes. And then I have an old El Camino truck that I’m crazy about. I like to get in that truck and go up in the hills near where I live, in Vegas, and take my camera. That, to me, is Heaven, being out in nature, taking pictures of the wildlife.

While many attempts have been made to define Jazz, what’s the point really. Jazz is to be experienced – period.

Jazz stands for freedom.

Start well and end well. The middle will look after itself.

Jazz is a sideways glance at music. It’s like being an architect, knowing the basis of design but understanding that the façade can be whatever you dream. I’m a free person. I don’t want to be tied down.

[On urging Nyro to tell Barbara Streisand that ‘Wedding Bell Blues’ had been personally written for her] It’s not a big lie.