Nina Simone

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

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.

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

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.

Jazz is not just music, it’s a way of life, it’s a way of being, a way of thinking.

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

I like people who have worked long and hard, developing through introspection and dedication.

Music is a verb.

Writing is allowing the musical idea to speak for itself.

Some twenty years ago, during the course of a memorable evening at the Stravinskys’ home in Los Angeles, the venerable maestro turned to me and said in no uncertain terms: ‘My dear, you should conduct your own music. All composers should conduct their own music!

The fabulous places I’ve been, wonderful things that’ve happened, great people I’ve met ought to make a story.

It’s just exciting to be part of something that is brand-new.

I used to play – when I first started trying to be professional, I disk jockey from 1949 to 1955 in Memphis, Tennessee, and I was quite popular there as a disk jockey.

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.

We really never know what we’re gonna play when we get on stage.

Jazz demands that you bring to it things that are valuable to you, that are personal to you.

We don’t talk music. We just play.

This guitar is such a pal. It’s a psychiatrist. It’s a doggone bartender. It’s a housewife. This guy is everything. Whenever I find that I’ve got a problem, I’ll go pick my guitar up and play. It’s the greatest pal in the whole world.

We’re more popular than Jesus Christ now. I don’t know which will go first; rock and roll or Christianity.

If you got up on the bandstand at Minton’s and couldn’t play, you might get your ass kicked.

One can be very happy without demanding that others agree with them.