Buddy Guy

There has always been a tension between Jazz as a commercial music and as an art form.

There is no doubt that the first requirement for a composer is to be dead

It is evidently known, beyond contradiction, that New Orleans is the cradle of Jazz and I, myself, happened to be the creator in the year 1902.

I loved the feeling that I got singing.

It’s not jazz as we know jazz here in America.

I kind of hate the fact that people are always trying to put you into a category. I hate walls, and I hate boundaries. I don’t like that. I listen to everything.

Creativity shouldn’t be following radio; it should be the other way around.

Music is the tool to express life – and all that makes a difference.

Monk encouraged me to emancipate the drums from their subservient role as timekeepers.

We open our minds, stretch forth, take chances and venture out musically to arrive at something new and different.

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.

We may not be changing the world dramatically, but we’re improving it one note at a time.

I prefer no one to teach me. I prefer to swing on my own.

There are a million good tunes.

I never thought about being famous or rich. I just thought, Oh, I’ll get a nice little girl and go and play every night, and I’d be happy. And that worked for a while. But the little girl’s mother didn’t trust a guy with a horn.