Something was still there, that something that distinguishes an artist from a performer: the revealing of self. Here I be. Not for long, but here I be. In sensing her mortality, we sensed our own.
—Studs Terkel (1912–2008) American Author, Oral Historian
Jazz is the big brother of the blues. If a guy’s playing blues like we play, he’s in high school. When he starts playing jazz it’s like going on to college, to a school of higher learning.
—B. B. King (1925–2015) American Blues Singer, Guitarist
It seems to me monstrous that anyone should believe that the jazz rhythm expresses America. Jazz rhythm expresses the primitive savage.
—Isadora Duncan (1877–1927) American Dancer, Choreographer