Ludwig van Beethoven

To play without passion is inexcusable.

Music should strike fire from the heart of man and bring tears to the eyes of woman.

I worked until I could play and do changes at any tempo in any key and said ‘What else is there?’ Now I’m finding out.

One shouldn’t be in the habit of quoting oneself.

In my world, the first thing I reach for is the sound.

Jazz is a sideways glance at music. It’s like being an architect, knowing the basis of design but understanding that the façade can be whatever you dream. I’m a free person. I don’t want to be tied down.

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

Jazz music today is from the head and not the heart.

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

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

You may be sitting in a room reading this book. Imagine one note struck upon the piano. Immediately that one note is enough to change the atmosphere of the room – proving that the sound element in music is a powerful and mysterious agent, which it would be foolish to deride or belittle.

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.

Music doesn’t have to hop to be hip, as long as it swings it sings.

Jazz music is the real deal.

I saw a vibraphone for the first time and knew immediately I had found my means of expression.

I could see that Bukka was born to be a bluesman, and I wondered if the same was true of me. I worried that I didn’t have his talent – or the talent of someone like Blind Lemon or T-Bone. I felt something beautiful inside Bukka’s soul. Even if I didn’t follow his style, I was moved by his sincerity. He loved telling stories, and used his blues to tell them. His blues was the book of his life. He sang about his rough times and fast time and loving times and angry times. He’d entertain at a party for two hundred people with the same enthusiasm as a party for twenty. Bukka gave it his all. His music had a consistency I admired. Like all the great bluesmen, he said, I am what I am. I wondered if I could be that steady and strong.

Women have not been socialized to play drums. It’s not natural for us to hit thing.