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.

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

I’m… a rather simple person with a limited talent and perhaps a limited perspective.

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

To imitate someone is to insult them.

Jazz is not a what, it is a how.

Play the way you’d like to be and soon you’ll be the way you play.

If you don’t know what it is, don’t mess with it.

Music making is the most joyful activity possible, the most perfect expression of any emotion.

For me, the Les Paul is the greatest rock ‘n’ roll guitar of all time. If you’re not playing a Gibson guitar and you’re playing this kind of music, whether it’s punk, metal or anything grounded in rock ‘n’ roll, you’re not really doing it right. I don’t think professionally I’d every play anything else. Gibson, thank you for making greatest guitars ever.

It’s not technique — it’s what you have to say.

It is evidently known, beyond contradiction, that New Orleans is the cradle of Jazz and I, myself, happened to be the creator in the year 1902.

The whites come to applaud a Negro performer just like the colored do. When you’ve got the respect of white and colored, you can ease a lot of things.

I call myself a blues singer, but you ain’t never heard me call myself a blues guitar man.

If you want to be a musician, study your craft. Study music.

I’m going to be on the road for the rest of my life.

Django was the definitive genius on the guitar, and the depth of his gift was so spectacular.

Music is my life, professionally, for nearly 60 years. To be recognized by the academy is still the highest honor.

The qualities in music I consider most important are beauty, simplicity, originality, discrimination and sincerity.

First I was working on classical music that didn’t move me at all. I hated it. So I decided to discover the kinds of classical music that did move me—like Chopin, Satie, Beethoven, and certain Mozart songs. Mozart would play a counterpart with his left hand while using his right to mock it. It was blue, dark, shadowy and it made me feel something. That’s when I realized music was inside me.

I kind of hate the fact that people are always trying to put you into a category. I hate walls, and I hate boundaries. I don’t like that. I listen to everything.