Tony Williams

I’ve studied all my musical life, but learning is only good if you do something constructive with it.

I use the audience as my color palette, my instrument.

Perhaps it is a peculiarity of mine that despite the fact that I am a professional performer, it is true that I have always preferred playing without an audience.

T-Bone was, to me, that sound of being in heaven.

The more you listen, the more your hear.

If it sounds good and feels good, then it IS good!

I started to like blues, I guess, when I was about 6 or 7 years old. There was something about it, because nobody else played that kind of music.

I work very hard at being the best musician I can be because I love it.

I’m a fan first. I believed Duke Ellington when he said there’s no bad music, just some of it is presented badly. As a kid, hanging around Church Street, the presentation of music was so powerful, I couldn’t help but jump for joy. I had discovered art, or truth, or whatever you want to call it; I had seen a light I’d follow forever.

Have you ever wondered why young people take to music like fish to water? Maybe it’s because music is fun, plain and simple.

I’m a musician at heart, I know I’m not really a singer. I couldn’t compete with real singers. But I sing because the public buys it.

Music is my life, professionally, for nearly 60 years. To be recognized by the academy is still the highest honor.

You can’t copy anybody and end up with anything. If you copy, you’re working without any real feeling.

I was unfashionable before anyone knew who I was.

Jazz improvisation is the art of drawing without an eraser.

If a Jazz musician plays someone else’s song, he has a responsibility to make a distinct and original statement.