Bill Evans

I always like people who have developed long and hard, particularly through introspection and a lot of dedication. I think that what they arrive at is, usually, deeper and more beautiful than the person who seems to have that ability and fluidity from the beginning.

Art should teach spirituality by showing a person a portion of himself that he would not discover otherwise.

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.

Technique is the ability to translate your ideas into sound through your instrument. This is a comprehensive technique . . . a feeling for the keyboard that will allow you to transfer any emotional utterance into it. What has to happen is that you develop a comprehensive technique and then say, forget that. I’m just going to be expressive through the piano.

I believe in things that are developed through hard work. I always like people who have developed long and hard, especially through introspection and a lot of dedication. I think what they arrive at is usually a much deeper and more beautiful thing than the person who seems to have that ability and fluidity from the beginning. I say this because it’s a good message to give to young talents who feel as I used to.

It bugs me when people try to analyze jazz as an intellectual theorem. It’s not. It’s feeling.

It’s like a whole orchestra, the piano for me.

I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.

Everything that happened to me as a child involved music. It was part of everyday life, as automatic as breathing.

You have a mentor or teacher and you learn all he can show you.

It isn’t where you came from, it’s where you’re going that counts.

I write about moments, and I don’t make blanket statements about anything because no one has all the answers; nobody’s come up with a foolproof way to do anything when it comes to emotions.

The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.

I’ve noticed that the more adventurous and in that mode that I am, it seems that the more the audience really likes it.

It’s taken me all my life to learn what not to play.

I don’t care for the music when they’re talking bad about women because I think women are God’s greatest gift to the planet – I just like music.

In order to complete your cycle, a musician needs to write; document what is going through your mind and where you are harmonically, theoretically, historically.

You gotta mean it and you gotta treat it gentle.

Life is too full of distractions nowadays. When I was a kid we had a little Emerson radio and that was it. We were more dedicated. We didn’t have a choice.

I let my body play what’s in my heart. I play life instead of notes. I play what I lived.

Just because I’m playing jazz I don’t forget about me. I play or write me the way I feel through jazz, or whatever. Music is, or was, a language of the emotions.