Louis Armstrong

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

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

Never play anything the same way twice.

Not too slow, not too fast. Kind of half-fast.

What we play is life.

Making money ain’t nothing exciting to me. You might be able to buy a little better booze than the wino on the corner. But you get sick just like the next cat and when you die you’re just as graveyard dead as he is.

All of the technique doesn’t matter… only if the feeling is right.

I thought Eric Clapton was good. He still is. Not only is he good – he’s rock’s #1 guitarist, and he plays blues better than most of us.

For years the trio did nothing but play for musicians and other hip people. We starved.

Everything that happened to me as a child involved music. It was part of everyday life, as automatic as breathing.

Jazz fans love Miles and I love him for a myriad of reasons, but the overviews are always too simplistic.

In my music, I’m trying to play the truth of what I am. The reason it’s difficult is because I’m changing all the time.

I never have any trouble playing anything I can think of. The trouble is thinking of what to play.

Everybody came. Everybody came to the Cotton Club.

Anyone can make the simple complicated. Creativity is making the complicated simple.

A musician starting out today should get a great teacher and learn all there is to know about the instrument.

Oh, my darling, it’s incredible, that someone so unforgettable should think I am unforgettable, too.

I’m trying to play the truth of what I am. The reason it’s difficult is ’cause I’m changing all the time.

Dance music-as I keep saying, you can dance to a windshield wiper… a windshield wiper that’s fairly steady gives you a beat and all you need is an out-of-tune playing ‘Melancholy Baby’ and you’ve got dance music.

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

I think pop music is one of the few things in the 20th century that have made giant strides in reverse.