Bill Evans

Words are the children of reason and therefore can’t translate the feeling of Jazz because they’re not part of it.

Technique is the ability to translate your ideas into sound through your instrument.

I’m using the insides of sounds to move around in a very subtle way which, I think, ends up being inevitable. I feel its the only solution to that particular problem that I presented myself.

I went through a lot of mental pains and anguish about choosing between jazz and classical. I realized that where I functioned was where I should be, and where I functioned was in jazz, so that was it.

Jazz is not a what, it is a how.

I’m believe that all people are in possession of what might be called a ‘universal musical mind.’

Even now, at 82 years old, if I don’t learn something every day, you know what I think? It’s a day lost. Now, I don’t practice every day. I just take the guitar, swear at it. But I should be swearing at myself. But I fool with music. I’m doing something musically all the time. And my ears are wide open for anything I can hear.

The blues tells a story in itself. It can make you happy or give you a feeling to swing.

I’ve never written a political song. Songs can’t save the world. I’ve gone through all that.

Music is what feelings sound like.

You can have tone and technique but without originality you ain’t really nowhere. Gotta be original.

For most dates I was paid the sum of $1 per hr and they always tipped me at the end of the night.

Jazz improvisation is the art of collective negotiated expression.

Don’t bullshit, just play.

It is Jazz’s very nature to change, to develop and adapt to the circumstances of its environment.

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.

If a song’s about something I’ve experienced or that could’ve happened to me it’s good. But if it’s alien to me, I couldn’t lend anything to it. Because that’s what soul is all about.

I never heard of a Jazz musician who retired. You love what you do, so what are you going to do… play for the walls?

The way I look at it, they’re all part of my musical diary, and I can listen to any one of them and it will bring up memories of what was going on at that time.

If T-Bone Walker had been a woman, I would have asked him to marry me. I’d never heard anything like that before: single-string blues played on an electric guitar.

Our music artistry should not be disconnected from our lives or ourselves.