Toots Thielemans

Being a Jazz musician is not a rose garden!

Three months. I was playing the organ for three months. It was a challenge for me in the beginning.

When I decided that I wanted to be a Jazz musician, I knew that it was about improvising.

If it sounds good and feels good, then it IS good!

It’s part of what the blues does, to write about these things. JB Lenoir was the main one in this regard – he wrote about Korea, too, in fact. Songs that reflect these current situations – in his case, racial issues for the most part: in my case, what has happened to me, and I was in Korea.

If a guy’s got it, let him give it. I’m selling music, not prejudice.

I really liked Wynton when I first met him. He’s still a nice young man, only confused.

Most people use music as a couch; they want to be pillowed on it, relaxed and consoled for the stress of daily living. But serious music was never meant to be soporific.

I’m trying to make music a sensual expression, not and academic experiment.

Women have not been socialized to play drums. It’s not natural for us to hit thing.

I’ve never recorded anything I didn’t like.

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

Let the music speak for itself.

The deeper you get into the music allows the ability to appreciate art and all other forms of expression.

Find the best teachers, listen to the finest playing and try to emulate that. Be true to the music.

When rock music came in, I wasn’t bitter about it. I was puzzled.