Jimmy Rushing

The blues tells a story in itself. It can make you happy or give you a feeling to swing.

I have no one style.

The true artform is being a human being.

Blues is a tonic for whatever ails you. I could play the blues and then not be blue anymore.

I guess what people forget sometimes is that when I write songs, I write them sometimes in about 20 minutes.

Inspiration may be a form of super-consciousness, or perhaps of subconsciousness—I wouldn’t know. But I am sure it is the antithesis of self-consciousness.

Music happens to be an art form that transcends language.

Inspiration may be a form of superconsciousness, or perhaps of subconsciousness – I wouldn’t know. But I am sure it is the antithesis of self- consciousness.

Your accompanist has a lot to do with how you sing, so experiment and choose your partner wisely.

That’s the beauty of music. They can’t take it from you.

What kills me is that everybody thinks I like Jazz.

Blues is to Jazz what yeast is to bread; without it, it’s flat.

You just sort of have to play the way you are.

I never practice my guitar. From time to time I just open the case and throw in a piece of raw meat.

Jazz is not just music, it’s a way of life, it’s a way of being, a way of thinking… The new inventive phrases we make up to describe things – all that to me is jazz just as much as the music we play.

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