Sometimes it's worse to win a fight than to lose.

When Lester plays, he almost seems to be singing; one can almost hear the words.

I think I copied my style from Louis Armstrong. Because I used to like the big volume and the big sound that Bessie Smith got when she sang ... So I liked the feeling that Louis got and I wanted the big volume that Bessie Smith got. But I found that it didn't work with me, because I didn't have a big voice. So anyway between the two of them I sorta got Billie Holiday.

People don't understand the kind of fight it takes to record what you want to record the way you want to record it.

Love is like a faucet, it turns off and on.

Don't threaten me with love, baby. Let's just go walking in the rain.

I'm always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I've been.