Lee Morgan

It’s either hip or it ain’t.

Everything I’ve ever done was out of fear of being mediocre.

I didn’t know the right names for anything at first, but I knew what knocked me out. Changes… man I dug.

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.

Play what you feel, feel what you play.

I loved Billie Holiday more than any other person other than myself on the stage.

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

I’ve seen myself on those lists of the 100 best guitarists, and if they think that I’m that good, thank them. Thank God for them. But I don’t think so.

You can’t copy anybody and end with anything. If you copy, it means you’re working without any real feeling.

I don’t know what they’re thinking about. Just because someone says, ‘I like what you do’ or something: They might like it today and tomorrow they might not. I’ve had that experience with record companies.

It’s not the style that motivates me, as much as an attitude of openness that I have when I go into a project.

How do you explain what it feels like to get on the stage and make poetry that you know sinks into the hearts and souls of people who are unable to express it.

All that I’ve played, all that I’ve sung, I couldn’t have done any other way.

One shouldn’t be in the habit of quoting oneself.

Love is sweeping the country.

The first time I went to Paris, it just felt like I was home. I didn’t question it.