Count Basie

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

I’ll always remember when I first heard Lester [Young]. I’d never heard anyone like him before. He was a stylist with a different sound. A sound I’d never heard before or since. To be honest with you, I didn’t much like it at first.

If a guy is gonna to play good bop, he has to have a sort of a bop soul.

I just think swing is a matter of some good things put together that you can really pat your foot by. I can’t define it beyond that.

I, of course, wanted to play real jazz. When we played pop tunes, and naturally we had to, I wanted those pops to kick! Not loud and fast, understand, but smoothly and with a definite punch.

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

A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write to ultimately be at peace with himself.

I play whatever the hell comes out… that’s it.

Jazz was not only built in the minds of the great ones, but on the backs of the ordinary ones.

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of someone else.

There’s a category for me. I like to be referred to as a good singer of good songs in good taste.

I’ll keep evolving and put that into my songs.

Music happens to be an art form that transcends language.

Music is the only language in which you cannot say anything sarcastic.

The true musician is to bring light into people’s hearts.

Jazz music can relax, soothe and uplift the mind when you absorb it.

Life is not about finding our limitations, it’s about finding our infinity.

Is there a meaning to music? Yes. Can you state in so many words what the meaning is? No.

Players are coming from other backgrounds: rock, folk, ethnic music. It’s changing Jazz for the better.

Our music artistry should not be disconnected from our lives or ourselves.

Will the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? All the rest of you, if you