Herbie Hancock

It is people’s hearts that move the age.

Miles’ sessions were not typical of anybody else’s sessions. They were totally unique.

I think I was supposed to play Jazz.

The true artform is being a human being.

The value of music is not dazzling yourself and others with technique.

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

All the music that was ever heard came from the inner silence in every musician.

I don’t intend to be a performing flea anymore. I was the dreamweaver, but although I’ll be around I don’t intend to be running at 20,000 miles an hour trying to prove myself. I don’t want to die at 40.

I’ve seen myself on those lists of the 100 best guitarists, and if they think that I’m that good, thank them. Thank God for them. But I don’t think so.

One of the advantages of growing older is you learn what to leave out.

You know the actor John Garfield? In one movie he walked up to this train station, the ticket booth, and the guy says, ‘Yes, where are you going?’ And he says, ‘I want a ticket to nowhere.’ I thought: that’s it. The freedom to do that. I want a ticket to nowhere.

I know what I’ve done for music, but don’t call me a legend. Just call me Miles Davis.

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

The secret is keeping busy, and loving what you do.

A Les Paul, which is kind of a sissy guitar compared to a Strat anyway. The Les Paul is heavier, but because of that bulk you can do bends on it more easily. Also, the Les Paul’s lack of a vibrato arm means you’re not wrestling against the spring-loaded bridge all the time. The Strat is the ultimate because it’s like having a miniature pedal steel within it. Once you get familiar with it where the bends are and where they meld down into a fourth or whatever, you can do all kinds of pedal-steel-like things, which I think are cool..

Damn it, when I’m bombastic, I have my reasons. I want to be bombastic: take it or leave it.

I still do what I love, and I don’t really think about it. I try to make a beautiful show, so people go home happy. That’s my biggest aspiration: to make people happy.

If I could read it, I could play it.

Somebody asked me once, ‘Do you think that swing will ever come back?’ And I said, ‘Do you think the 1938 Form will ever come back?’

Music is the greatest communication in the world.

Music is the most interesting thing in the world.