Nina Simone

Jazz is not just music, it’s a way of life, it’s a way of being, a way of thinking… The new inventive phrases we make up to describe things – all that to me is jazz just as much as the music we play.

Jazz is a white term to define black people. My music is black classical music.

How do you explain what it feels like to get on the stage and make poetry that you know sinks into the hearts and souls of people who are unable to express it.

I only knew classical music, which to me was the only true music. The only way I could survive at the bar was to mix the classical music with popular songs, and that meant I had to sing. What happened was that I discovered I had a voice plus the talent to mix classical music together with more popular songs, which at the time I detested.

Music is a gift and a burden I’ve had since I can remember who I was.

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.

There’s so much music out there and so many possibilities. I like anyone who plays any instrument.

A guy is influenced by hundreds of people and things, and all show up in his work. To fasten on any one or two is ridiculous. I will say one thing, though. Lennie Tristano’s early records impressed me tremendously. Tunes like ‘Tautology,’ ‘Marshmallow,’ and ‘Fishin’ Around.’ I heard the fellows in his group building their lines with a design and general structure that was different from anything I’d ever heard in jazz.

It’s not uncomfortable for me to be a sideman, but I feel more comfortable as a bandleader.

Once in a while, the thumb that fits over the neck of the guitar kinda bothers me a little bit, but not that much yet. I figure in time I won’t do much because of my age.

True music must repeat the thought and inspirations of the people and the time. My people are Americans and my time is today.

Jazz is the false liquidation of art, instead of utopia becoming reality it disappears from the picture.

I got out of the car and there was a knife in my neck. The guy says, “Don’t move.” And the drummer got out of the car, and he got a gun in his head. This was my entrance to the South Side of Chicago. But it was necessary, because I wanted to play jazz.

It’s difficult for me to dislike an artist, no matter what he’s creating.

There are so many sounds I still want to make, so many things I haven’t yet done.

As long as you’ve got your horn in your mouth, you’re developing.

Everything I’ve ever done was out of fear of being mediocre.

It is evidently known, beyond contradiction, that New Orleans is the cradle of Jazz and I, myself, happened to be the creator in the year 1902.

It’s about getting the sound to flow from your body and allowing that sound to get to the piano.

Being so inescapably a part of it, I’ll never know what the listener gets, what the listener feels and that’s too bad.

I’d rather be B.B. King. That’s the way I started. Let the heavy metal guys play heavy metal, let the others play the other… I try to do what I do better, not get away from it.