If you got up on the bandstand at Minton’s and couldn’t play, you might get your ass kicked.
If you want to be a good blues singer, people are going to be down on you, so dress like you’re going to the bank to borrow money.
Jazz stresses less on technical exhibitionism and much more on emotional content.
This guitar is such a pal. It’s a psychiatrist. It’s a doggone bartender. It’s a housewife. This guy is everything. Whenever I find that I’ve got a problem, I’ll go pick my guitar up and play. It’s the greatest pal in the whole world.
There’s nobody plays like me and I don’t play like anybody else.
In my opinion, I think sarcasm and humor in a song, without turning it into a novelty song, is really charming.
People don’t want to suffer. They want to sound good immediately and this is one of the biggest problems.
There are times when you want to go where you used to go and you can’t go there. So I’m back to Count Basie lifting his hand. And I find you can stop that show with one note just like you can with a hundred.
If you dig it, do it. If you dig it a lot, do it again.
We never play anything the same way once.
[On Louis Armstrong] You cant play nothing on modern trumpet that doesnt come from him, not even modern shit. I cant even remember a time when he sounded bad playing the trumpet. Never. Not even one time. He had great feeling up in his playing and he always played on the beat. I just loved the way he played and sang.
Jazz is an art form that depends on its antecedents. There must be respect for the people that have gone before.
They’re not particular whether you’re playing a flat 5th or a ruptured 129th as long as they can dance.
My fans are the best in the world! They’ve grown up with me and stayed with me through this entire journey.
The reason I write music is that I feel it’s a vehicle or channel which leads to your true self, your essence.
[On urging Nyro to tell Barbara Streisand that ‘Wedding Bell Blues’ had been personally written for her] It’s not a big lie.
The other day I came across a recording I made of a night at my apartment when I was living with Kris Kristofferson. Bob Dylan had been around earlier and we were all passing around the guitar. Whenever it came to my turn I would run into the kitchen and say I’d left the coffee on the stove or something. Shyness. Scared to perform.
As a young cellist I had played to an audience that had included Pablo Casals and reacted with poor, nervous playing. Casals sought me out after the concert and praised me highly, somewhat easing the pain and thinking him a very kind man.
The main thing is to be satisfied with your work yourself. It’s useless to have an audience happy if you are not happy.
Jazz is the big brother of the blues. If a guy’s playing blues like we play, he’s in high school. When he starts playing jazz it’s like going on to college, to a school of higher learning.
I don’t need words. It’s all in the phrasing.
