Benny Green

A Jazz musician is a juggler who uses harmonies instead of oranges.

Art [Blakey] would take young people with a potential and help them develop a voice as a player and as a writer.

What does music mean to you? What would you do without music?

I was a singing disc jockey who heard every type of music there was – and loved it all.

All musicians stimulate each other. The vibrations get scattered around.

The high note is not the only thing.

Invest yourself in everything you do. There’s fun in being serious.

Inspiration may be a form of superconsciousness, or perhaps of subconsciousness – I wouldn’t know. But I am sure it is the antithesis of self-consciousness.

Jazz is about being in the moment.

You can’t rehearse a blues darlin’.

What kills me is that everybody thinks I like Jazz.

You can’t copy anybody and end up with anything. If you copy, you’re working without any real feeling.

Ideologies separate us. Art brings us together.

I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music.

I’m going to be on the road for the rest of my life.

Music isn’t just learning notes and playing them. You learn notes to play the music of your soul.

By and large Jazz has always been like the kind of a man you wouldn’t want your daughter to associate with.