Mel Torme

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

Inspiration comes from tunes you play, other musicians and your own imagination.

I never had much interest in the piano until I realized that every time I played, a girl would appear on the piano bench to my left and another to my right.

Jazz is not dead, it just smells funny.

I sing to the realists; people who accept it like it is.

Jazz is rhythm and meaning.

Somebody asked me once, ‘Do you think that swing will ever come back?’ And I said, ‘Do you think the 1938 Form will ever come back?’

I call myself a blues singer, but you ain’t never heard me call myself a blues guitar man.

I’m fascinated with the electronic devices that we can mess around with.

What don’t I want to learn? I have how-to books, history, nature. Ain’t nobody here saying, ‘You’d better learn this.’ But I still think I’ve got a head on my shoulders, and it pleases me.

Just because I’m playing Jazz I don’t forget about me. I play or write me the way I feel through Jazz.

It’s not what they think, it’s about what’s best for the music.

Let your life be your music and let your music be your life.

Musicians have the intimacy of bringing two people together and the aesthetic, romantic transference.

Albert King wasn’t my brother in blood, but he sure was my brother in Blues!