Carol King

[on B. B. King] Very seldom does he talks about the way he play, man. He always wanna talk about young women. And I fuss at him sometimes, I say, ‘Man I wanna know what did you do here!’

I don’t do something because I think it will sell 30 million albums. I couldn’t care less. If it sells one, it sells one.

I asked my mother could I have an instrument. She said, ‘Well if you go out and save your money.’ So I went and got – I made me a shine box. I went out and started shining shoes, and I’d bring whatever I made.

It was a great thrill to listen every night and hear him on NBC radio. Les played just as great then. And then later on, in the 1950s, Les Paul turned the whole world on to guitar. He’s just a terrific, flashy, tasty guitarist.

It’s a matter of who would be right for each song. Mickey Hart for ‘All We Need is An Island’ – he’s the only guy I know who has Tahitian drums and every kind of drum on the planet.

All musicians stimulate each other. The vibrations get scattered around.

Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life.

Jazz is the most fun you can have with your clothes on.

I’d take my guitar and play on the streets. A gospel song would get me a pat on the head. But a blues would get me a dime. So you see why I stuck with the blues.

Inspiration comes from tunes you play, other musicians and your own imagination.

There are so many sounds I still want to make, so many things I haven’t yet done.

Jazz musicians are the only workers who will put in a full shift for pay and then go somewhere else and continue to work for free.

I don’t like recording studios – except my own, which is just a little room above the garage.

Jazz music today is from the head and not the heart.

Jazz is one of the few things you can do in society to express yourself freely and creatively.