Bill Evans

You give up your own personality when you imitate somebody.

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

Music comes from the moment, it is spontaneous, it exists at the time it is created.

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.

To the person who uses music as a medium for the expression of ideas, feelings, images, or what have you; anything which facilitates this expression is properly his instrument.

I like people who have worked long and hard, developing through introspection and dedication.

[on Django Reinhardt] This was a man who changed my musical life by giving me a whole new perspective on the guitar and, on an even more profound level, on my relationship with sound…During my formative years, as I listened to Django’s records, especially songs like ‘Nuages’ that I would play for the rest of my life, I studied his technique. Even more, I studied his gentleness. I love the human sound he gave his acoustic guitar.

When you begin to see the possibilities of music, you desire to do something really good for people.

All we are saying is give peace a chance.

I can’t listen to music too often. It affects your nerves, makes you want to say stupid nice things and stroke the heads of people who could create such beauty while living in this vile hell.

It is people’s hearts that move the age.

Music was our wife and we loved her. We stayed with her, clothed her and put diamond rings on her hands.

The main thing is to be satisfied with your work yourself. It’s useless to have an audience happy if you are not happy.

Let the music speak for itself.

I like people who have worked long and hard, developing through introspection and dedication.

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.

My fans are the best in the world! They’ve grown up with me and stayed with me through this entire journey.

You want the audience to feel what you’re doing.

I’ve been told that nobody sings the word ‘hunger’ like I do.

Everyone is working who should be.

I regard singing pretty much like acting. Each song is like playing a different role. I get very involved with my material. I feel a responsibility for the emotion it brings out in the listener.