Benny Carter Quotations

At my age, I realize that my most precious possession is time, and I've got too much unfinished work to do to spend even a minute talking about myself.

He's no Bill Clinton!

It (Strayhorn's Compositions) made us all think a little differently about what we were doing

Get up from the piano ... Oscar is in the house. Who wants to be at the piano when Oscar is there? Find something else to do.

I didn't know Charlie Parker well, but I spent some time with him, and he was articulate and well-spoken with a lot of curiosity about music and the world. But the only way he seems to be depicted is as a junkie. And that's not the full picture.

In all honesty, I think I just played what I felt was right for me. And I think I would have done the same thing, even if I'd been born later, when Charlie Parker was influencing everybody. The truth is, I never gave it much thought. I just played what I had to play.

And you know, Doc Cheatham could play saxophone too. A lot of people don't know about that. There's also someone down at the University of Miami who made a big-band recording in which he played all the parts, except for the drums.

Leonard Feather... was the one who arranged for me to come to London to work for the BBC, and we remained friends until Leonard passed away in 1994.

I took the eye test and passed it on the spot. Then, when he asked me to sign something, I pulled out my reading glasses.