Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
When I was young I used to listen to everything.
Concord, California was a great place to grow up.
If you don't know what it is, don't mess with it.
Get up from that piano. You hurtin' its feelings.
A young man ain't nothin' in the world these days
I'll play with a hundred pieces or do a solo job.
I been getting good crowds. It only took 50 years.
I have no idea what I'm doin'. I've never seen me.
Honestly, recording with Faith Evans blew me away.
A great leader cannot worry about being well liked.
Rhythm is the life of space of time danced through.
The music becomes something that is its own entity.
Getting the Oscar had the biggest impression on me.
I'm not special, no more special than anybody else.
By the way, I got a Grammy, which was a big thrill.
And Lennie Tristano I like a lot, I still like him.
The thing of playin' and singin' never bothered me.
We don't know the power that's within our own bodies
But, the truth is that everyone is somebody already.
I don't believe in geniuses, I believe in hard work.
The minute you make a mistake - that's improvisation!
I had the first integrated Army band in World War II.
We don't know the power that's within our own bodies.
I was talented but crazy, semi-autistic and eccentric.
I never wanted this kind of life that Im still living.
If you see me up there on the stand smiling, I'm lost!
Being a musician is what I do, but it's not what I am.
Jazz music is to be played sweet, soft, plenty rhythm.
For me, the main thing is spontaneity & taking chances.
I'm from the gospel world. I grew up playing in church.
I came through the bebop era, and to me that was enough.
Oscar Peterson plays the best ivory box I've ever heard.
I've been a religious, spiritual person for a long time.
Anybody who loves jazz has a little bit of snob in them.
I prefer no one to teach me. I prefer to swing on my own.
Every day when I sit down to play, I learn something new.
On the other side of every mountain was another mountain.
Music happens to be an art form that transcends language.
Dave Frank is one of the few people that can REALLY play!
It has always been Oscar Peterson. He is my Rachmaninoff.
Everyone has to do 20 push-ups for the mellophones shorts.
I'm shooting for longevity. The road is hard on your body.
The things that really matter don't mix with idle chatter.
So I didn't actually change my name the way some people did.
There is no easy or difficult; only familiar and unfamiliar.
I'll just try to keep my mind open to whatever comes my way.
Jazz is not gonna be a dinosaur and stay around in one form.
To feel is perhaps the most terrifying thing in this society.
Lena Horne - when she walked onstage, she really was Erzulie.
It is a privilege and an honor to perform on Steinway pianos.