Bill Evans

Art should teach spirituality by showing a person a portion of himself that he would not discover otherwise.

It bugs me when people try to analyze jazz as an intellectual theorem. It’s not. It’s feeling.

I always like people who have developed long and hard, particularly through introspection and a lot of dedication. I think that what they arrive at is, usually, deeper and more beautiful than the person who seems to have that ability and fluidity from the beginning.

Talent is cheap, and many talents treat themselves cheaply.

Especially, I want my work-and the trios if possible-to sing.

I believe in things that are developed through hard work. I always like people who have developed long and hard, especially through introspection and a lot of dedication. I think what they arrive at is usually a much deeper and more beautiful thing than the person who seems to have that ability and fluidity from the beginning. I say this because it’s a good message to give to young talents who feel as I used to.

I think the idea of a love song has changed. Most of the love songs we all loved as kids would be classified as funeral dirges now, you know, really super slow. I think nowadays the ballad has changed. It can have some up-tempo, some drums, some other things. ‘Forever’ would still be considered a ballad, I guess, but the tempo is probably more of a mid-tempo. The content is love song. I don’t know how to write anything else.

You can practice to learn technique, but I’m more interested in conceiving something in the moment.

Listening is the key to everything good in music.

They always want to sell me as a hard bopper.

There’s only one thing that everyone in this world has in common: whether you want to love somebody and you want to be loved in return.

Talk of God is most often in church. Is there a God outside of church? I hope so. But how should I know? How does anybody know?

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.

They’re not particular about whether you’re playing a flatted fifth or a ruptured 129th as long as they can dance to it.

It’s difficult for me to dislike an artist, no matter what he’s creating.

If you can’t get your songs to people one way, you have to find another.

Only in spontaneity can we be who we truly are.

Jazz speaks for life. This is triumphant music.

Jazz musicians have some outlaw in them somewhere.

When I was in the country and I was trying to play, nobody seemed to pay too much attention to me. People used to say, ‘That’s just that ole blues singer.’

The true musician plays what he/she hears. That cannot be a mistake.