Frank Zappa

Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.

A drummer has to be kind-hearted.

He knows I rip him off every day. He’s the godfather for me. Nobody can say they aren’t influenced by what Stevie Wonder has done.

Jazz is a democratic musical form. We take our respective instruments and collectively create a thing of beauty.

To get the music the way you want it, there’s a lot of work involved.

It was in tune when I bought it.

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

Don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there.

The Blues and Jazz will live forever. So will the Delta and the Big Easy.

Applause felt like approval and it became a drug that soothed the pain, but only temporarily.

I always liked the steel guitar. I also love the guys that play the bottleneck. But I could never do it; I never made it do what I want. So every time I would pick up the guitar, I ‘d shake my hand and trill it a bit. For some strange reason my ears would say to me that sounds similar to what those guys were doing. I can’t pick up the guitar now without doing it. So that’s how I got into making my sound. It was nothing pretty. Just trying to please myself. I heard that sound.

Your horn is your passport to the world.

There is two kinds of music, the good, and the bad. I play the good kind.

Practice as if you are the worst, play as if you are the best!

Jazz fans love Miles and I love him for a myriad of reasons, but the overviews are always too simplistic.

The sign of a mature musician is knowing what not to play.