Playing scales is like a boxer skipping rope or punching a bag. It's not the thing in itself; it's preparatory to the activity

Charlie Christians' contributions to the electric guitar are as big as Thomas Edisons' contributions to the world.

he signed his work .. you could always tell when it was Herb Ellis playing

Charlie Christian showed me a lot, and was a great help, but even then, I realised that if I was going to make it, it was no use copying Charlie

Playing scales is like a boxer skipping rope or punching a bag. It's not the thing in itself; it's preparatory to the activity

I'm not interested in a marketable product: I'm interested in what I know from my life experience to be standards of excellence

When I joined the trio, it was as if I was capable of driving a sports car at 60, but Ray Brown and Oscar Peterson just kept pressing the pedal down, and I was trying to control the car at 80!