If you find a note tonight that sounds good, play the same damn note every night!

Of course, there are a lot of ways you can treat the blues, but it will still be the blues.

I'll always remember when I first heard Lester [Young]. I'd never heard anyone like him before. He was a stylist with a different sound. A sound I'd never heard before or since. To be honest with you, I didn't much like it at first.

I decided that I would be one of the biggest new names; and I actually had some little fancy business cards printed up to announce it, 'Count Basie. Beware, the Count is Here.'

The real innovators did their innovating by just being themselves.

I was always willing to say, "Let's see what happens," when something came up that looked like it might help me get a little closer to where I wanted to be . . .

I just think swing is a matter of some good things put together that you can really pat your foot by. I can't define it beyond that.