Music was our wife and we loved her. We stayed with her, clothed her and put diamond rings on her hands.
Black and white players hadn’t appeared together in public before Teddy Wilson and I began working with B.G.
Working with Benny was important for me and for black musicians in general.
The secret is keeping busy, and loving what you do.
Music was our wife, and we loved her. And we stayed with her, and we clothed her, and we put diamond rings on her hands.
I worked hard learning harmony and theory when I was growing up in Chicago in the 1920s.
Playing is my way of thinking, talking, communicating.
Man, as long as people want to hear Jazz, I’ll give it to them.
I think I love it more as I get older because I keep getting better on drums, vibes and piano.
Playing gives me as much good feeling now as it did when I was a bitty kid.
Every day I look forward to getting with my instruments, trying new things.
It’s always Jazz. You can put a new dress on her, a new hat, but no matter what kind of clothes she’s the same old broad.
Seemed to me that drumming was the best way to get close to God.
Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.
