When you don't have much money, you worry that they'll just put you in the ground someplace and your loved ones won't know where you are.

Being a blues singer is like being black two times.

There's a sadness to all kinds of music if you want to hear it. There's also happiness to it if you want to hear it.

A day that I don't learn something new is a wasted day.

Education is the one thing that no one can take from you.

Notes are expensive... spend them wisely

Charlie Christian had no more impact on my playing than Django Reinhardt or Lonnie Johnson. I just wanted to play like him. I wanted to play like all of them. All of these people were important to me. I couldn't play like any of them, though.