Judy Garland

I think of guitar players in terms of doctors: you have the doctor for your heart, the cardiologist, then one that works on your feet, your leg. But I believe George Benson is the one that plays all over. To me, he would be the M.D. of them all.

There’s a category for me. I like to be referred to as a good singer of good songs in good taste.

If I’m going to sing like someone else, then I don’t need to sing at all

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.

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.

My improvisations are a beguiling mixture of the vertical and the horizontal.

Will the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? All the rest of you, if you

Jazz has borrowed from other genres of music and also has lent itself to other genres of music.

The main thing is you want to emote.

Music gave me the energy to revise, revive myself; renew, rebirth myself. It was a palliative, a relief.

Even now, at 82 years old, if I don’t learn something every day, you know what I think? It’s a day lost. Now, I don’t practice every day. I just take the guitar, swear at it. But I should be swearing at myself. But I fool with music. I’m doing something musically all the time. And my ears are wide open for anything I can hear.

I’m surprised Beyonce liked me. I met Beyonce!!

I realized by using the high notes of the chords as a melodic line, and by the right harmonic progression, I could play what I heard inside me. That’s when I was born.

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

Technique is the ability to translate your ideas into sound through your instrument.