Les Paul

It’s not jazz as we know jazz here in America.

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.

When I got my first guitar my fingers wouldn’t go to the sixth string so I took off the big E and played with just five strings. I was only 6 or 7.

Every setback might be the very thing that makes you carry on and fight all the harder and become much better.

Leo wanted me to be partners with him – for it to be the Fender guitar: the Les Paul Fender. When he approached me with the idea, he brought over a guitar and he gave it to me and I have it here. And I thought, if I’m gonna do this I’m going to go with the biggest company in the world: Gibson. Why should I fool around with some guy who is not a musician – I should go to the Gibson people.

If I have to go around telling everyone how great I am, then there’s something wrong with my act.

It made no sense to ignore them and to continue writing as if they did not exist. I felt that it was worth the effort to see if I couldn’t say what I had to say in the simplest possible terms.

I don’t like recording studios – except my own, which is just a little room above the garage.

Jazz music just resonates with the frequency of me.

Music is the shorthand of emotion

You can play a shoestring if you’re sincere.

As long as musicians have passion for spontaneity and creating something that’s never been before, Jazz will flourish.

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

If your dreams don’t scare you they’re not big enough!

Everybody has somebody that they patterned themselves after.

The true artform is being a human being.

Indian music is very soulful and the only other school that develops improv to the high degree you find in Jazz.

A lot of singers think all they have to do is exercise their tonsils to get ahead. They refuse to look for new ideas and new outlets, so they fall by the wayside… I’m going to try to find out the new ideas before the others do.

If you already have a piece of music ingrained in your body, why would you not play it?

To imitate someone is to insult them.

You can’t explain Jazz to anyone without losing the experience because it’s feeling, not words.