I was born swinging and clapped my hands in church as a little boy, but I've grown up and I like to do things other than just swing. But blues can do more than just swing.

I was always doing revolutionary things, things that would alert people, so they would stop being so subservient.

I've got a feeling that if it's so easy for you - the struggle and the initiative are not as strong as they are for a person who has to struggle and therefore has more to say.

They're singing your praises while stealing your phrases.

Just because I'm playing jazz I don't forget about me. I play or write me, the way I feel, through jazz, or whatever.

I always thought that no matter what kind of work people did, they should involve themselves totally with all the discrimination they ran into.

Whatever coast he's on, a man should be himself. I don't write in any particular idiom, I write Charles Mingus.