Chuck Mangione

I don’t believe music can be free unless it has something to be free from.

Don’t say Aretha is making a comeback, because I’ve never been away!

I may be helping to bring harmony between people through my music.

You have to pack as much as you can in an hour or 70 minutes. This time around it was 15 songs, so it was a challenge to get them all the right length so you could get them all on.

All that I’ve played, all that I’ve sung, I couldn’t have done any other way.

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

I’m believe that all people are in possession of what might be called a ‘universal musical mind.’

I never wanted to be like other blues singers. I might like hearing them play, but I’ve never wanted to be anyone other than myself. There are a few people that I’ve wished I could play like, but when I tried, it didn’t work.

Jazz is the most fun you can have with your clothes on.

[on B. B. King] Very seldom does he talks about the way he play, man. He always wanna talk about young women. And I fuss at him sometimes, I say, ‘Man I wanna know what did you do here!’

I often wonder whether Negroes like myself who are pretty well known help out at all in breaking down barriers.

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.

Improvisation is the most widespread of all musical activities. Why did so many people spend so long pretending it never happened?

I love it when people hear my music but can’t figure out what instrument I’m playing.

That’s a great thing about jazz. We leave it a little space so that we have the opportunity to go where the moment takes us

Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes doesn’t mean he lacks vision.