I’ve been married twice. Most women would rather not be married to a traveling blues singer.
I think we musicians are emissaries. Every time we go before the public, we’re there to make converts.
Jazz has borrowed from other genres of music and also has lent itself to other genres of music.
I don’t believe music can be free unless it has something to be free from.
At times in my life the only place I have been happy is when I am on stage.
I’ve never recorded anything I didn’t like.
A drummer has to be kind-hearted.
In music the passions enjoy themselves.
Montreal was a very active jazz center until club owners started putting in strippers instead of music. Before long, there was nothing to hear.
I keep these songs in my head until I get behind the microphone. I never spend more than 30 or 40 minutes singing the vocal or it will sound mechanical. There are always mistakes, but it’s about feeling more than being perfect.
Jazz music will continue to thrive, possibly in unexpected ways.
The day of the great jazz improviser who doesn’t know how to read music is over.
There’s only one thing that everyone in this world has in common: whether you want to love somebody and you want to be loved in return.
I’ve always tried to defend the idea that the blues doesn’t have to be sung by a person who comes from Mississippi, as I did.
The way I feel today, as long as my health is good and I can handle myself well and people still come to my concerts, still buy my CDs, I’ll keep playing until I feel like I can’t.
There is a time where you’re beyond yourself, better than your technique, better than your usual ideas.
You only get better by playing.
The high note is not the only thing.
I expect the audience to come up to my level.
Talent is cheap, and many talents treat themselves cheaply.
I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me-like food or water.
