Ella Fitzgerald

The only thing better than singing is more singing.

When we were at the Apollo, Holiday was a block away. I asked her for her autograph.

I sing like I feel.

A lot of singers think all they have to do is exercise their tonsils to get ahead. They refuse to look for new ideas and new outlets, so they fall by the wayside… I’m going to try to find out the new ideas before the others do.

Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.

Forgive me if I don’t have the words. Maybe I can sing it and you’ll understand.

Creativity and artistic endeavors have a mission that goes far beyond just making music for the sake of music.

But the guitar, my lady, whether well played or badly played, well strung or badly strung, is pleasant to hear and listen to; being so easy to learn, it attracts the busiest of talented people and makes them put aside loftier occupations so that they may hold a guitar in their hands.

The blues tells a story in itself. It can make you happy or give you a feeling to swing.

Jazz stresses less on technical exhibitionism and much more on emotional content.

You only get better by playing.

Players are coming from other backgrounds: rock, folk, ethnic music. It’s changing Jazz for the better.

Your ear is the final judge to what sounds right and what sounds wrong.

You’ve got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail.

Creativity is more than just being different. Anybody can plan weird; that’s easy. What’s hard is to be as simple as Bach. Anyone can make the simple complicated. Creativity is making the complicated simple.

I hope my recordings of my own works won’t inhibit other people’s performances. The brutal fact is that one doesn’t always get the exact tempo one wants, although one improves with experience.

You can separate the men from the boys and ballads.

Risk is at the heart of Jazz. Every note we play is a risk.

I think you have to leave a lot to the imagination!

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 never had much interest in the piano until I realized that every time I played, a girl would appear on the piano bench to my left and another to my right.