I think the band can really swing when it swings easy, when it can just play along like you are cutting butter.

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

I got everything I wanted. When I was young in Kansas City, I knew nothing about Frank Sinatra, Billy Eckstine, Ella Fitzgerald, of all those concert halls, of all those countries. I did not know what it was like to direct a band... All I wanted was to be big, to be in show-business, and to travel...and that's what I've been doing all my life.

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.

If you play a tune and a person don't tap their feet, don't play the tune.

I think the band can really swing when it swings easy, when it can just play along like you are cutting butter.

Oscar Peterson plays the best ivory box I've ever heard.