Billie Holiday

I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That’s all I know

There’s no damn business like show business – you have to smile to keep from throwing up.

When you sing, always tell the truth.

I don’t think I ever sing the same way twice. The blues is sort of a mixed-up thing. You just have to feel it. Anything I do sing is part of my life.

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

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

Jazz music has always been a place where anything is possible.

Learning to read music in Braille and play by ear helped me develop a damn good memory.

[Ben Taylor] He is an interesting combination of the two of us. His voice box is more like mine but the way his tongue sits in his mouth, and the way he pronounces words, is just like James Taylor.

Let my children have music.

The louder they [the band] play the softer I sing.

Once we’re inside a tune, we can do anything with it.

The extreme dynamic and percussive possibilities of an acoustic guitar amplified through a bridge pickup have, over many years of performing, informed not only the way I play, but the way I write and sing too. My guitar taught me to sing in textures, from the roundest lingering harmonic to the sharpest snap of a pulled string. Being a percussion instrument as well as a melodic instrument, my guitar also teaches me about the relationship between rhythm and melody. Portable. Did I mention it also taught me about being portable?

Indian music is very soulful and the only other school that develops improv to the high degree you find in Jazz.

In my music, I’m trying to play the truth of what I am. The reason it’s difficult is because I’m changing all the time.

It’s always Jazz. You can put a new dress on her, a new hat, but no matter what kind of clothes she’s the same old broad.

The melody is generally what the piece is all about.

If someone thinks that peace and love are just a cliche that must have been left behind in the 60s, that’s a problem. Peace and love are eternal.

In music the passions enjoy themselves.

When there was vinyl, I just loved opening a record and smelling that wonderful smell.

In Kansas City joints ran 9pm-5am. Pay was a $1.25 a night but somebody special like Count Basie could command $1.50.