Benny Green

Jazz music is a special skill that has brought pleasure to millions throughout the world.

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

Anytime you strike the drums, you have to be aware that you’re creating a musical event.

If a jazz player is really playing, the classical player will have to respect him.

The problem is that a lot of the blues stations are late on Saturday night, and like a lot of people, I ain’t no vampire!

All we are saying is give peace a chance.

Perhaps it is a peculiarity of mine that despite the fact that I am a professional performer, it is true that I have always preferred playing without an audience.

After the music is over it’s gone in the air. You can never capture it again.

You must surrender whatever preconceptions you have about music if you’re really interested in it.

The radio makes hideous sounds.

They always want to sell me as a hard bopper.

Play what you want and let the public pick up on what you doing even if it does take them 15, 20 years.

When rock came in, people didn’t know what to do. Even Sinatra, he didn’t know what to do. The music was changing. And it’s changing now.

I remember Elvis as a young man hanging around the Sun Studios. Even then, I knew this kid had a tremendous talent. He was a dynamic young boy. His phraseology, his way of looking at a song, was as unique as Sinatra’s. I was a tremendous fan, and had Elvis lived, there would have been no end to his inventiveness.

The essentials of Jazz are: melodic improvisation, melodic invention, swing and instrumental personality.

In our local Baptist church, I sang in the choir and formed a gospel quartet. When our minister caught me messing with his guitar, he taught me three positions – one, four and five. After that, I taught myself to play.

It’s either hip or it ain’t.