Ira Gershwin

Love is sweeping the country.

One can be very happy without demanding that others agree with them.

I always wanted to play the piano, and jazz appealed to me.

I’ll always remember when I first heard Lester [Young]. I’d never heard anyone like him before. He was a stylist with a different sound. A sound I’d never heard before or since. To be honest with you, I didn’t much like it at first.

Get around, be on the scene, play it clean, be seen, be keen and be over eighteen.

Jazz is like wine. When it is new it’s only for the experts, but when it gets older everybody wants it.

Music can’t save the world, but can make one a little calmer.

I heard someone say ‘What’s that kid doing here? Call your piano player and let’s get started.’

Jazz improvisation is the art of collective negotiated expression.

When I sing, trouble can sit right on my shoulder and I don’t even notice.

The audience, they’re not professionals. They just love music. It isn’t necessary to play over their heads to be admired.

Your accompanist has a lot to do with how you sing, so experiment and choose your partner wisely.

Too many jazz pianists limit themselves to a personal style, a trademark, so to speak. They confine themselves to one type of playing. I believe in using the entire piano as a single instrument capable of expressing every possible musical idea. I have no one style. I play as I feel.

You usually can’t tell what’s inspiring until you look back on it.

I learned my songs from the birds of the Brazilian forest.

A Les Paul feels like a guitar and I play differently on that and I sound too much like someone else.

I let my body play what’s in my heart. I play life instead of notes. I play what I lived.