B. B. King

I think of guitar players in terms of doctors: you have the doctor for your heart, the cardiologist, then one that works on your feet, your leg. But I believe George Benson is the one that plays all over. To me, he would be the M.D. of them all.

I remember Elvis as a young man hanging around the Sun Studios. Even then, I knew this kid had a tremendous talent. He was a dynamic young boy. His phraseology, his way of looking at a song, was as unique as Sinatra’s. I was a tremendous fan, and had Elvis lived, there would have been no end to his inventiveness.

I never wanted to be like other blues singers. I might like hearing them play, but I’ve never wanted to be anyone other than myself. There are a few people that I’ve wished I could play like, but when I tried, it didn’t work.

My mother was a very beautiful lady, I thought. She was very good to me. I guess – she died when I was nine and a half, but if she had lived, I probably wouldn’t be trying to play guitar. She wanted me to be known, but as something else. Not a guitar player.

[moving to Las Vegas] It was sort of like a man getting married – you don’t have to go out looking for girls, you’ve got your girl with you. I could go to casinos any time I had money and wanted to, so I actually went less.

I don’t like anybody to be angry with me. I’d rather have friends.

I don’t consider myself a musician who has achieved perfection and can’t develop any further.

If you find a note tonight that sounds good, play the same damn note every night!

Talk of God is most often in church. Is there a God outside of church? I hope so. But how should I know? How does anybody know?

It’s not jazz as we know jazz here in America.

I say this because it’s a good message to give to young talents who feel as I used to. You hear musicians playing with great fluidity and complete conception early on, and you don’t have that ability. I didn’t. I had to know what I was doing. And ultimately it turned out that these people weren’t able to carry their thing very far. I found myself being more attracted to artists who have developed through the years and become better and deeper musicians.I believe in things that are developed through hard work.

The blues tells a story in itself. It can make you happy or give you a feeling to swing.

Only in spontaneity can we be who we truly are.

Jazz is one of the few things you can do in society to express yourself freely and creatively.

You should never be comfortable, man. Being comfortable fouled up a lot of musicians.

Jazz was born out of the whiskey bottle, was raised on marijuana, and will expire on cocaine.

Jazz Improvisation means that practice is not as straightforward as it would be when you simply have a score to play.

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

Jazz means many things to many people, but it’s all about choices.

They always want to sell me as a hard bopper.

Don’t settle for style. Succeed in substance.