My father's rich, my momma's good looking. Right? And I can play the Blues. I've never suffered and don't intend to suffer.

[Jazz musicians] feel comfortable with their clichés, you know.

We don't play to be seen. I'm addicted to music, not audiences.

That's the way women do. The frown. They want to give you the attitude to approach them back, by giving you a negative vibe.

I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am one thing, a musician.

When you work with great musicians, they are always a part of you . . . their spirits are walking around in me, so they're still here and passing it on to others.

Americans don't like any form of art, man. All they like to do is make money. They don't like me, Sammy Davis, or anybody else. They don't like nothing. They just like Sammy because he can make 'em a lot of money.