Louis Armstrong

I don’t need words. It’s all in the phrasing.

Man, all music is folk music. You ain’t never heard no horse sing a song, have you?

What we play is life.

The memory of things gone is important to a jazz musician. Things like old folks singing in the moonlight in the back yard on a hot night or something said long ago.

There are some people that if they don’t know, you can’t tell them.

If you have to ask what jazz is, you’ll never know.

I had spent many years pursuing excellence, because that is what classical music is all about… Now it was dedicated to freedom, and that was far more important.

One of the great moments of my life was when I could write musician on my passport.

Man, as long as people want to hear Jazz, I’ll give it to them.

Music has to be accessible.

Jazz has the ability to absorb and transform influences from diverse musical styles.

Jazz is a mental attitude rather than a style. It uses a certain process of the mind expressed spontaneously through some musical instrument. I’m concerned with retaining that process.

I find my inspiration in myself.

No one is original. Everyone is derivative.

A Jazz Diet will make you hipper, thinner, taller, smarter, richer, happier and more attractive to members of both sexes.

Music was our wife and we loved her. We stayed with her, clothed her and put diamond rings on her hands.

What I learned the most from Prince was putting art first, being creatively ambitious, and putting creativity at the forefront of what I do.

Eliminating the piano means that I’ve always worked closer with the bass than most players.

Learn the tunes by playing the masters, learn expression by playing yourself.

You can’t go to the store and buy a good ear and rhythm.

A chimpanzee could learn what I do physically, but it goes way beyond that. When you play, you play life.