Bill Evans

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.

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.

When you begin to teach Jazz, the most dangerous thing is to teach style.

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

First of all, I never strive for identity. That’s something that just has happened automatically as a result, I think, of just putting things together, tearing things apart and putting it together my own way, and somehow I guess the individual comes through eventually.

You can’t explain Jazz to anyone without losing the experience because it’s feeling, not words.

I think that what is important is that the music be honest and direct and that it is relevant to today.

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

If it ain’t fun, I want no part of it man. That’s the reason I play.

It’s very difficult for me to dislike an artist. No matter what he’s creating, the fact that he’s experiencing the joy of creation makes me feel like we’re in a brotherhood of some kind… we’re in it together.

When I sing, trouble can sit right on my shoulder and I don’t even notice.

When you’re on stage you have a very strange knowledge of what the audience is. It isn’t exactly a sound – it’s a hum, like the streets.

Music should always be an adventure.

We usually never got out of there before four or five o’clock in the morning. Every morning. So it was rough.

I don’t meditate before I play or compose, but I see playing and composing as meditative acts.

Music represents nature. Nature represents life. Jazz represents nature. Jazz is life.

While many forms of music may use the dynamic of improvisation, Jazz exemplifies the unique characteristic of collective improvisation.

Deep, unspeakable suffering may well be called a baptism, a regeneration, the initiation into a new state.

Jimmy (Wakely) told me, ‘I don’t want you to sound so much like Dinah Washington.’ So, I thought, ‘How can I get around this?’ And one of the people I really dug was Patti Page. So I thought, ‘Oh, I’m going to sound like her.’ I actually did with a couple curly-cues thrown in for effect, but, that’s how I started getting away from the predominant Dinah influence, and getting my own style together.

Talent is cheap, and many talents treat themselves cheaply.

Dance music-as I keep saying, you can dance to a windshield wiper… a windshield wiper that’s fairly steady gives you a beat and all you need is an out-of-tune playing ‘Melancholy Baby’ and you’ve got dance music.