The guitar chose me.
A person should design the way he makes a living around how he wishes to make a life.
The hippest thing you can do is not play at all. Just listen.
It is this tendency to play with manic enthusiasm on every possible occasion that distinguishes the amateur Jazz musician from the professional.
A musician’s responsibility is to get as much of his art across to the public as possible.
I am a devout musician.
It’s not what you do, but the way you’re doing it and in the end that’s all that we have.
In order to be honest with myself, I have to reveal more of who I am. This is a part of the improv process.
If you’ve only got one horn playing, I still want the sense of ensemble.
Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of someone else.
I just wonder where I was when the talent was being given out, like George Benson, Kenny Burrell, Eric Clapton… oh, there’s many more! I wouldn’t want to be like them, you understand, but I’d like to be equal, if you will.
Spontaneously composed music is a counterpoint that has its own rules based on a natural order and intuitive logic.
The Blues and Jazz will live forever. So will the Delta and the Big Easy.
I don’t know anything about music. In my line you don’t have to.
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.
You must own it to play it.
An orchestra can become as familiar and reliable an instrument as a well-known, well-worn piano.
