Ray Charles

There’s nothing written in the Bible, Old or New testament, that says, If you believe in Me, you ain’t going to have no troubles.

I don’t know what would have happened to me if I hadn’t been able to hear.

My music had roots which I’d dug up from my own childhood, musical roots buried in the darkest soil.

I do Jazz, Blues, Country and so forth. I do them all like a good utility man.

Learning to read music in Braille and play by ear helped me develop a damn good memory.

I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me-like food or water.

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.

Your horn is your passport to the world.

The music field was the first to break down racial barriers, because in order to play together, you have to love the people you are playing with, and if you have any racial inhibitions, you wouldn’t be able to do that.

They told me to play what I felt. Hey, I’m a Jazz musician, that’s what I do.

I had a really good time in New Orleans, although I had some very tragic times in Baton Rouge. Some guys beat me up and threw my horn away. ‘Cause I had a beard, then, and long hair like the Beatles.

It’s taken me all my life to learn what not to play.

Learning to read music in Braille and play by ear helped me develop a damn good memory.

Miles Davis is one who writes songs when he plays.

I don’t compose. I assemble materials.

Man, you tell a story.

Music is your experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn.

The qualities in music I consider most important are beauty, simplicity, originality, discrimination and sincerity.

Jazz is a feeling more than anything else.

People will always need love, romance, a tender touch and really personal and deeply felt music.

There’s such a cynicism about the phrase ‘I laughed all the way to the bank.’ It’s as though money is what you’re doing, rather than playing music. If you’re playing a money game, why not get into banking?