Carla Bley

Listening is more important than anything because that’s what music is. Somebody is playing something and you’re receiving it.

When you are studying Jazz best thing to do is listen to records and live music as much you can and absorb everything.

You don’t know what you like, you like what you know. In order to know what you like, you have to know everything.

My music is the spiritual expression of what I am: my faith, my knowledge, my being.

I still do what I love, and I don’t really think about it. I try to make a beautiful show, so people go home happy. That’s my biggest aspiration: to make people happy.

When you are so strongly drawn to music, you can’t ‘not’ be a musician.

10% of musicians make 90% of the money, while the remaining 90% of musicians make the 10% that’s left.

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

The high note is not the only thing.

Get around, be on the scene, play it clean, be seen, be keen and be over eighteen.

The jazziest American contribution to the vocabulary of English is Jazz itself.

What we play is life.

What don’t I want to learn? I have how-to books, history, nature. Ain’t nobody here saying, ‘You’d better learn this.’ But I still think I’ve got a head on my shoulders, and it pleases me.

To this day, I don’t like people walking on stage not looking good. You have to look good. If you feel special about yourself then you’re going to play special.

I never set out to find a style of my own, it just happened.

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

I have younger friends who don’t work and they aren’t doing so well. My secret is to keep going, keep working.