George Gershwin

When you want ’em you can’t get ’em, when you’ve got ’em, you don’t want ’em.

True music must repeat the thought and inspirations of the people and the time. My people are Americans and my time is today.

Life is a lot like jazz. It’s best when you improvise.

I was really running a music school back then, because my band wasn’t making any money. I keep talking about money, because most people don’t understand the part of money in running a band.

It’s taken me all my life to learn what not to play.

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

Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.

There are no natural barriers. It’s all music.

I had spent many years pursuing excellence, because that is what classical music is all about… Now it was dedicated to freedom, and that was far more important.

The more you play, the more you hear and the more you hear, the more you want to play.

You get that right tickin’ rhythm, man and its ON!

I try stuff. I synthesize what’s of value with some of the other things I have at my disposal.

There are wonderful things in Jazz, the improvisation, the liveliness, the being at one with the audience.

We usually never got out of there before four or five o’clock in the morning. Every morning. So it was rough.

You only go around once and this ain’t no rehearsal.

Jazz is such a powerful cultural statement that it’s almost as if it’s intertwined with society.

Genius is a word too often tossed around in musical circles.

A good player can make any instrument sound good.