Thelonious Monk

I don’t have a definition of Jazz. You’re just supposed to know it when you hear it.

Talking about music is like dancing about architecture.

I find my inspiration in myself.

I don’t consider myself a musician who has achieved perfection and can’t develop any further.

I’m famous… ain’t that a bitch?

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

When I sing, I play in my mind; the minute I stop singing orally, I start to sing by playing Lucille.

If a Jazz musician plays someone else’s song, he has a responsibility to make a distinct and original statement.

Music’s a good thing, it calm the beast in the man.

Life is a lot like jazz. It’s best when you improvise.

He knows I rip him off every day. He’s the godfather for me. Nobody can say they aren’t influenced by what Stevie Wonder has done.

I was a nerd academically. But I was also an athlete and a musician. I never wanted to be shut out of any situation. I think it was that more than anything.

I do Jazz, Blues, Country and so forth. I do them all like a good utility man.

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..

It’s not the notes you play, it’s the notes you don’t play.

It’s up to the individual to keep up with the times.

You’ve heard me call myself a bluesman and a blues singer. I call myself a blues singer, but you ain’t never heard me call myself a blues guitar man. Well, that’s because there’s been so many can do it better’n I can, play the blues better’n me. I think a lot of them have told me things, taught me things.

You should never be comfortable, man. Being comfortable fouled up a lot of musicians.

Look for the one who’s not smiling and play to that person. Once you’ve got that person, you’ve got the whole club.

I’ve had those people very interested in my writing. Since I think of myself as a composer, I feel really good. I’ve had lots of guys call me up. I’ve gotten two or three commissions to write things. I’ve written lots of movie scores.

I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.