28 Quotes by Count Basie

I'm saying: to be continued, until we meet again. Meanwhile, keep on listening and tapping your feet.

Well, if you find a note tonight that sounds good, play the same damn note every night!

Of course, there are a lot of ways you can treat the blues, but it will still be the blues.

If you play a tune and a person don't tap their feet, don't play the tune.

All I wanted was to be big, to be in show business and to travel... and that's what I've been doing all my life.

I, of course, wanted to play real jazz. When we played pop tunes, and naturally we had to, I wanted those pops to kick! Not loud and fast, understand, but smoothly and with a definite punch.

I decided that I would be one of the biggest new names; and I actually had some little fancy business cards printed up to announce it, 'Count Basie. Beware, the Count is Here.'

Oscar Peterson plays the best ivory box I've ever heard.

I'll always remember when I first heard Lester [Young]. I'd never heard anyone like him before. He was a stylist with a different sound. A sound I'd never heard before or since. To be honest with you, I didn't much like it at first.