Billie Holiday

If I’m going to sing like someone else, then I don’t need to sing at all.

Somebody once said we never know what is enough until we know what’s more than enough.

When you sing, always tell the truth.

A kiss that is never tasted, is forever and ever wasted.

I’m always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I’ve been.

You can’t copy anybody and end with anything. If you copy, it means you’re working without any real feeling.

I wanted to do the music, but not at the expense of being happy.

Risk is at the heart of Jazz. Every note we play is a risk.

Jazz is known all over the world as an American musical art form and that’s it. No America, no jazz. I’ve seen people try to connect it to other countries, for instance to Africa, but it doesn’t have a damn thing to do with Africa.

A young tenor player was complaining to me that Coleman Hawkins made him nervous. Man, I told him Hawkins was supposed to make him nervous! Hawkins has been making other sax players nervous for forty years!

The first time I heard Bird play, it hit me right between the eyes.

When I was coming up, I practiced all the time because I thought if I didn’t I couldn’t do my best.

If you want to play somebody’s music, you’d better go into his house.

Wes Montgomery played impossible things on the guitar because it was never pointed out to him that they were impossible.

I’m now a legend, whether I want to be or not.

I was probably six years old when I first sang before an audience.

I think pop music is one of the few things in the 20th century that have made giant strides in reverse.

Jazz – it takes passion to make it happen!

It’s important to reflect on what made Jazz so special.

I want a kick to my band, but I don’t want the rhythm to hog the spotlight.

Music always turns into music. As soon as I play a key, push a key down, there’s no theory any more. When I go and I hear a sound on the keyboard, all theories go out the window.