Nancy Wilson

It’s all music.

Actually, I think the more Ben [Taylor] sings, the less like James he sounds.

The beauty of Jazz is that it’s malleable. People address it to suit their own personalities.

Jazz is the big brother of the blues. If a guy’s playing blues like we play, he’s in high school. When he starts playing jazz it’s like going on to college, to a school of higher learning.

Bird said he worked as dishwasher at Onyx Club on 52nd St. in the early 1940s just to hear Art Tatum play.

There is a time where you’re beyond yourself, better than your technique, better than your usual ideas.

There’s millions and millions of people who think Les Paul is a guitar!

I still insist that American performers are the best performers in the world.

The only award I’ve ever worked for or wanted really were the ones that were given to me by the fans. So, whether it’s a platinum record or hit songs, those are the ones that last the most.

Jazz is all about improvisation and it’s about the moment in time, doing it this way now, and you’ll never do it this way twice. I’ve studied the masters. Why would I want to play ball after the guys who sit on a bench? I want to play like Michael Jordan.

Jazz is so incestuous that it’s starting to kill itself.

I only knew classical music, which to me was the only true music. The only way I could survive at the bar was to mix the classical music with popular songs, and that meant I had to sing. What happened was that I discovered I had a voice plus the talent to mix classical music together with more popular songs, which at the time I detested.

Jazz improvisation is the art of collective negotiated expression.

My music is Jazz.

I don’t really look at my career in terms of highlights and low lights. I think I’m at this place right now and to be at this place right now I’ve had to go through many obstacles and lots of highs and lows and for me it’s about the entire journey.