Nat King Cole

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

Music is emotional, and you may catch a musician in a very unemotional mood or you may not be in the same frame of mind as the musician. So a critic will often say a musician is slipping.

Critics don’t buy records. They get ’em free.

If I could read it, I could play it.

I often wonder whether Negroes like myself who are pretty well known help out at all in breaking down barriers.

I can’t bear to see myself even in movies. The feeling is complex. I can’t stand the sight of myself.

[Stratocaster vs Les Paul] It’s a totally different animal. One is for very subtle and, I would say, more musical things that you can distract and abuse. You can’t do that with a Les Paul. It’s too delicate. It’s got a very delicate tone; most people don’t ever realize that because they are plugged into monstrous amplifiers which completely, instantaneously covers up the unique sound quality it has. All those years of development go straight out the window when you overload the amp.

I realized by using the high notes of the chords as a melodic line, and by the right harmonic progression, I could play what I heard inside me. That’s when I was born.

My neighbors always listen to very hip Jazz… whether they like it or not.

What are you going to do when you love music? You can’t stop.

Jazz music is an aural souvenir of mankind’s attempt to express the intangible, the heart, the soul, through art.

Jazz is freedom. You think about that.

Jazz affirms the noblest aspirations of character, individual discipline, perseverance and innovation.

Jazz stresses less on technical exhibitionism and much more on emotional content.

Music is an extraordinary vehicle for expressing very powerful emotions. That’s what draws people towards it.

If a song’s about something I’ve experienced or that could’ve happened to me it’s good. But if it’s alien to me, I couldn’t lend anything to it. Because that’s what soul is all about.

Sometimes I sound like gravel and sometimes I sound like coffee and cream.

I say this because it’s a good message to give to young talents who feel as I used to. You hear musicians playing with great fluidity and complete conception early on, and you don’t have that ability. I didn’t. I had to know what I was doing. And ultimately it turned out that these people weren’t able to carry their thing very far. I found myself being more attracted to artists who have developed through the years and become better and deeper musicians.I believe in things that are developed through hard work.

I wanted to put jazz on the record, all the loves of music that I had on the record, so I could show people I was ahead of my 19 years. It may have been over the heads of some people.

The point of Jazz is, you do something and then you go on.

Today Jazz music is performed and listened to by people of all ethnicity, backgrounds, ages and creeds.