Humphrey Lyttelton

There is nothing more stuntastic than rapping in front of an orchestra.

When I cannot sing my heart, I can only speak my mind.

Talking about music is like dancing about architecture.

So until we see you again, bright moments and keep searchin’ for your mystery note on the universal piano of life.

Music’s a good thing, it calm the beast in the man.

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

Jazz is the continual pulsation of the now.

There’s only one bass player in a band. I’m the best bass player of any band I’m in.

I don’t have a definition of Jazz. You’re just supposed to know it when you hear it.

Sometimes there are no gigs, but the main thing is still the music.

One very important thing I learned from Monk was his complete dedication to music. That was his reason for being alive. Nothing else mattered except music, really.

Play what you want and let the public pick up on what you doing even if it does take them 15, 20 years.

I’d solo on my guitar; then sing; then solo; then sing some more. one stopped when the other started. That way I felt a continuity, not a conflict, like a wheel that keeps turning. Both sounds – guitar and voice – were coming out of me, but they issued from different parts of my soul.

Finally Beiderbecke took out a silver cornet. He put it to his lips and blew a phrase. The sound came out like a girl saying ‘yes.’

Last time I saw Count Basie, he was in a wheelchair. They wheeled him up onto the stage, he sits down at the piano, and he gives the downbeat, and that band played like they were in heaven. And right in the middle, the band cuts. He had to take one hand and put the other on it, and he comes down with one note. And it was the greatest note I ever heard in my life.