Charles Lloyd

I tried to connect my singing voice to my guitar an’ my guitar to my singing voice. Like the two was talking to one another.

Jazz is so incestuous that it’s starting to kill itself.

Of course, there are a lot of ways you can treat the blues, but it will still be the blues.

The human being receives the pleasure from music, not from the argument over what it is.

When I got my first guitar my fingers wouldn’t go to the sixth string so I took off the big E and played with just five strings. I was only 6 or 7.

Jazz is a beautiful woman whose older brother is a policeman.

Music’s a good thing, it calm the beast in the man.

Jazz translates the moment into a sense of inspiration for not only the musicians but for the listeners.

If I’m not saying it in four choruses or less, then I’m not saying it.

I think the most important thing about playing is to walk out with confidence, look the people right in the eye and say ‘Here I am,’ and go and do your thing. As soon as they know you’re confident, they’re confident. As long as you adjust to them you’re not in trouble. You should eyeball them, find out what they want, and give it to them. They didn’t pay to come out and look at the tapestries.

You’ve got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail.

I never believed in a set routine. It should depend on how you feel, because you play what you feel.

I’m creating music – it doesn’t matter if anyone else likes it.

One thing I like about jazz is that it emphasized doing things differently from what other people were doing.

The guitar chose me.