Philly Joe Jones

The jazziest American contribution to the vocabulary of English is Jazz itself.

What’s tied Jazz together is its foundation in the Blues, a reliance on group interplay and the unique phenomenon of spontaneous improvisation.

Don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there.

If you’re trying to be hip, be hip!

Joe’s been my drummer for 14 years, and we’ve been buddies for six years.

Look at the tune and not make the same statement that has been made a million times.

I’ve seen myself on those lists of the 100 best guitarists, and if they think that I’m that good, thank them. Thank God for them. But I don’t think so.

When you begin to see the possibilities of music, you desire to do something really good for people.

I never set out to find a style of my own, it just happened.

A musician’s responsibility is to get as much of his art across to the public as possible.

Sometimes I think I was making music through the wrong end of a magnifying glass.

I’ve said that playing the blues is like having to be black twice. Stevie Ray Vaughan missed on both counts, but I never noticed.

Your sound is you and what you really feel inside.

There’s always this sound out there that’s just a little beyond my reach and that just sort of keeps me going.

What we play is life.