Luciana Souza

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.

I’ve studied all my musical life, but learning is only good if you do something constructive with it.

And then when I found my sound, it took me two and a half weeks to find my sound and when I did I pulled out all the stops, all the stops I could find.

It angers me how scholars associate the blues strictly with tragedy.

As far as playing jazz, no other art form, other than conversation, can give the satisfaction of spontaneous interaction.

Even if you have some brilliant jazz ideas, it’s going to be difficult to get them across unless you have 1-a distinctive sound or 2- a loud sound. These are musts.

I look for a deep, gutty feelin’ in a guitar tone. I don’t use picks. People ask, “How you get that?” It’s just there. There’s a lot of people try to play real fast chords-da da da da da-that ain’t the hard, solid blues. It’s synthetic. It has not feeling to it. You sit down and play some funky, funky guitar. Take your time! Don’t rush it. Just let it come flowing through you. I can play guitar so funky, it’ll bring teardrops to your eyes.

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

We open our minds, stretch forth, take chances and venture out musically to arrive at something new and different.

The blues tells a story in itself. It can make you happy or give you a feeling to swing.

When I began listening to saxophones, I was first attracted to Coleman Hawkins.

I’m not claiming divinity. I’ve never claimed purity of soul. I’ve never claimed to have the answers to life. I only put out songs and answer questions as honestly as I can… But I still believe in peace, love and understanding.

Play it f**kin’ loud!

It was when I found out I could make mistakes that I knew I was on to something.

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