George Benson Quotes

I personally think Miles Davis is a lot funnier than me. And he's working more.

Miles Davis is one who writes songs when he plays.

Anything by Gonzalez Rubalcaba is unbelievable. I've been listening to the best of Django Reinhardt.

I've been invited to do a trio with a fantastic jazz guitarist and a harmonica player.

I think Wes Montgomery is the greatest jazz guitarist that ever lived.

I'm not Bill Evans. I'm not Keith Jarrett. I'm basically a singer who plays along with his voice.

I cut myself off from the mainstream of jazz. It stood me in good stead later on, as a musician.

I was blessed to work with The Jazz Messengers when the two piano players were Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea.

If he's a true symphony artist, he knows better than that because he knows that the only truly creative musician is the jazz musician.

I'm a trumpet player, and I sing jazz.

I always leaned toward free jazz... experimental jazz and progressive jazz. I feel like jazz is just part of the flavor and palette that you have as a musician to experiment with.

What makes jazz different is that you can't predict it, it's all about freedom. Just when you think you know what you're going to hear there'll be a left turn, a jazz musician will change it up.

I try to make my flow sound like a John Coltrane solo.

My aunt Ruth Brown was a jazz musician. I got hooked on it at a young age, understanding what John Coltrane was doing playing two notes on the saxophone at the same time, which is impossible.

I always wanted to sing a jazz record.

I listened to classical music. I listened to jazz. I listened to everything. And I started becoming interested in the sounds of jazz. And I went to a concert of Jazz at the Philharmonic when we lived in Omaha, Nebraska, and I saw Charlie Parker play and Billie Holiday sing and Lester Young play, and that did it. I said, 'That's what I want to do.'

I really want to bring ensemble playing back to the forefront - not just for me, but for everyone in jazz. When you have a group, a true co-op group, you can really heighten the possibilities of all the treasures of jazz.

I just wanted to experiment with the bass, and my main influence from Jaco Pastorius inspired me to write music in a certain way.

I think I just had it by osmosis: an appreciation of Duke Ellington before I really even knew who he was.

Thundercat put me on to George Duke.

People think jazz music is all standards and the Great American Songbook. But it's really about the sensibility, the feel you bring to the music.

For me, jazz is an understanding of music, rather than an end in itself.

Listen to John Coltrane. When he plays 'A Love Supreme,' that guy is totally into himself.

I wanted to keep pushing the musical ideas I had about jazz, music from Africa and the Caribbean.

I didn't arrive on the scene until after Jaco Pastorius had passed, but 'Three Views of a Secret' is a long-time favourite of mine.