In Europe, they like everything you do. The mistakes and everything. Thats a little bit too much.
If you hit a wrong note, then make it right by what you play afterward.
What kills me is that everybody thinks I like Jazz.
[on B. B. King] Very seldom does he talks about the way he play, man. He always wanna talk about young women. And I fuss at him sometimes, I say, Man I wanna know what did you do here!’
Jazz is not dead, it just smells funny.
Let me whisper it. Let me sigh it. Let me sing it, my dear or I will cry it.
You don’t have to be Picasso or Rembrandt to create something. The fun of it, the joy of creating, is way high above anything else to do with the art form.
It is evidently known, beyond contradiction, that New Orleans is the cradle of Jazz and I, myself, happened to be the creator in the year 1902.
I’m always thinking about creating. My future starts when I wake up in the morning and see the light. Then I’m grateful.
A band ought to have a sound all of its own. It ought to have a personality.
I think that it is important to try to sound like someone, especially early in your development.
I heard Mr. Wild Bill Davis. I heard him play in 1930 and he told me that it would take me fifteen years just to learn the pedals, the pedals of the organ and I got mad.
There are four qualities essential to a great jazzman. They are taste, courage, individuality, and irreverence. These are the qualities I want to retain in my music.
Talent is cheap, and many talents treat themselves cheaply.
In Kansas City joints ran 9pm-5am. Pay was a $1.25 a night but somebody special like Count Basie could command $1.50.
If you’re making money people don’t think you’re playing Jazz. When you’re not making money they think you’re a great Jazz musician.
There are four qualities essential to a great Jazzman: taste, courage, individuality and irreverence. These are the qualities I want to retain in my music.
Bass players are always the intellectual kind, but nobody knows it.
Music’s been around a long time, and there’s going to be music long after Ray Charles is dead. I just want to make my mark, leave something musically good behind. If it’s a big record, that’s the frosting on the cake, but music’s the main meal.
I saw music as a way to entertain people and take them away from their daily lives and put smiles on their faces, as opposed to what I see it being now, which is a way for me to actually communicate, and a way for me to tap into my subconscious.
I’ve always wanted a C trumpet on top, to have that same kind of facility without shouting.
