Ella Fitzgerald

It isn’t where you came from, its where you’re going that counts.

It isn’t where you came from, it’s where you’re going that counts.

I guess what everyone wants more than anything else is to be loved. And to know that you loved me for my singing is too much for me. Forgive me if I don’t have all the words. Maybe I can sing it and you’ll understand.

I stole everything I ever heard, but mostly I stole from the horns.

Don’t give up trying to do what you really want. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.

The only thing better than singing is more singing.

Too many young musicians today want to win polls before they learn their instruments.

I have a sense of the importance of music and how powerful it is to bring people together.

A beat is a moment in the life a groove.

Music and life are all about style.

I’ve studied all my musical life, but learning is only good if you do something constructive with it.

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.

I want the music to connect to people; reach people every time I perform.

Music opens up minds to dream great dreams about where you can go and what you can do.

A Les Paul, which is kind of a sissy guitar compared to a Strat anyway. The Les Paul is heavier, but because of that bulk you can do bends on it more easily. Also, the Les Paul’s lack of a vibrato arm means you’re not wrestling against the spring-loaded bridge all the time. The Strat is the ultimate because it’s like having a miniature pedal steel within it. Once you get familiar with it where the bends are and where they meld down into a fourth or whatever, you can do all kinds of pedal-steel-like things, which I think are cool..

Miles Davis was a part of my life from 1947 on. I was born in 1941 and I first heard him in 1947 on a 78 rpm. And then I followed his career, starting with his first solo album in 1951. He was an icon and inspiration and a mentor to me.

I decided that I would be one of the biggest new names; and I actually had some little fancy business cards printed up to announce it, ‘Count Basie. Beware, the Count is Here.

I wanted to connect my guitar to human emotions.

I hate to think of Jazz as black and white, something political.

Inspiration grows into full-scale creation through persistence and imagination.

I kind of hate the fact that people are always trying to put you into a category. I hate walls, and I hate boundaries. I don’t like that. I listen to everything.