Les Paul

I used my mother’s radio as a PA system. I’d take the telephone, the speaking part, and take those two leads off and lead them into the radio and the sound would come out of the speaker.

When rock came in, people didn’t know what to do. Even Sinatra, he didn’t know what to do. The music was changing. And it’s changing now.

A guitar is something you can hold and love and it’s never going to bug you. But here’s the secret about the guitar – it’s defiant. It will never let you conquer it. The more you get involved with it, the more you realize how little you know.

It’s not technique — it’s what you have to say.

To this day, no one has come up with a set of rules for originality. There aren’t any.

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

Jazz is so incestuous that it’s starting to kill itself.

Notes are expensive… spend them wisely!

It’s not technique — it’s what you have to say.

I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That’s all I know

I’m using the insides of sounds to move around in a very subtle way which, I think, ends up being inevitable.

After the music is over it’s gone in the air. You can never capture it again.

Too many jazz pianists limit themselves to a personal style, a trademark, so to speak. They confine themselves to one type of playing. I believe in using the entire piano as a single instrument capable of expressing every possible musical idea. I have no one style. I play as I feel.

I thank you in advance for the great round of applause I’m about to get.

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

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

I don’t care much about music. What I like is sounds.

What don’t I want to learn? I have how-to books, history, nature. Ain’t nobody here saying, ‘You’d better learn this.’ But I still think I’ve got a head on my shoulders, and it pleases me.

There’s always room for improvisation or changes of expression.

I’ve sung a lot of emotional songs, but when you’re writing it’s very difficult to decide what to reveal.

Jazz is not background music. You must concentrate in order to get the most out of it. You must absorb it.