Les Paul

When rock came in, people didn’t know what to do. Even Sinatra, he didn’t know what to do. The music was changing. And it’s changing now.

Leo wanted me to be partners with him – for it to be the Fender guitar: the Les Paul Fender. When he approached me with the idea, he brought over a guitar and he gave it to me and I have it here. And I thought, if I’m gonna do this I’m going to go with the biggest company in the world: Gibson. Why should I fool around with some guy who is not a musician – I should go to the Gibson people.

I was walking down the street, and I saw a sewer digger on his lunch hour open his lunch pail, dig out a harmonica, knock out the cracker crumbs, and play a bunch of tunes on it. I was fascinated by that harmonica, so I stared the guy out of it. I just stared at him. He said, ‘Here, kid, take it. Get out of here.’

When I got my first guitar my fingers wouldn’t go to the sixth string so I took off the big E and played with just five strings. I was only 6 or 7.

I have younger friends who don’t work and they aren’t doing so well. My secret is to keep going, keep working.

I wanted something very dense, something that would sustain long and more pieces of wood that would be soft, sweet, for more of a mellow sound.

It’s spontaneity that has always characterized Jazz music’s finest improvisers.

Music that is born complex is not inherently better or worse than music that is born simple.

Jazz is one of the least learnable art forms.

When I began listening to saxophones, I was first attracted to Coleman Hawkins.

All the music that was ever heard came from the inner silence in every musician.

I do not wear my emotions on my sleeve; I write about them.

Jazz musician is a combination entertainer, poet, singer, educator, student, artist, seducer and all-round good fellow.

I see my body as an instrument, rather than an ornament.

Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn. They teach you there’s a boundary line to music. But, man, there’s no boundary line to art.

In fifteen seconds the difference between composition and improvisation is that in composition you have all the time you want to decide what to say in fifteen seconds, while in improvisation you have fifteen seconds.

So What or Kind of Blue were done in that era, the right hour, the right day. It’s over; it’s on the record.

My version of Georgia became the state song of Georgia. That was a big thing for me, man. It really touched me. Here is a state that used to lynch people like me suddenly declaring my version of a song as its state song. That is touching.

I don’t do something because I think it’ll sell 30 million albums. I couldn’t care less if it sells just one.

True music must repeat the thought and inspirations of the people and the time. My people are Americans and my time is today.

I want the music to connect to people; reach people every time I perform.