I'm not playing for other musicians. We're trying to reach the guy who works all day and wants to spend a buck at night. We'll keep him happy.

I was a guinea pig for some hoodlums who thought they could hurt me and frighten me and keep other Negro entertainers from the South.

I am an American citizen and feel I am entitled to the same rights as any other citizen.

The Supreme Court is having a hard time integrating schools. What chance do I have to integrate audiences?

I ... started out to become a jazz pianist; in the meantime I started singing and I sang the way I felt and that's just the way it came out.

I am famous because I am an African American jazz artist.

I'm an interpreter of stories. When I perform it's like sitting down at my piano and telling fairy stories.