I’m not playing for other musicians. We’re trying to reach the guy who works all day and wants to spend a buck at night. We’ll keep him happy.
For years the Trio did nothing but play for musicians and other hip people. We practically starved to death.
Critics don’t buy records. They get ’em free.
Only time, education and plenty of good schooling will make anti-segregation work.
I make no claim to being a business genius. You can make so much money in this business that it loses its value.
The whites come to applaud a Negro performer just like the colored do. When you’ve got the respect of white and colored, you can ease a lot of things.
I’m an interpreter of stories. When I perform it’s like sitting down at my piano and telling fairy stories.
The people who know nothing about music are the ones always talking about it.
I often wonder whether Negroes like myself who are pretty well known help out at all in breaking down barriers.
Oh, my darling, it’s incredible, that someone so unforgettable should think I am unforgettable, too.
I may be helping to bring harmony between people through my music.
For years the trio did nothing but play for musicians and other hip people. We starved.
I am famous because I am an African American jazz artist.
I started out to become a jazz pianist; in the meantime I started singing and I sang the way I felt and that’s just the way it came out.
If I could read it, I could play it.
I am an American citizen and feel I am entitled to the same rights as any other citizen.
I can’t bear to see myself even in movies. The feeling is complex. I can’t stand the sight of myself.
I’m a musician at heart, I know I’m not really a singer. I couldn’t compete with real singers. But I sing because the public buys it.
Music is emotional, and you may catch a musician in a very unemotional mood or you may not be in the same frame of mind as the musician. So a critic will often say a musician is slipping.
