Blues Quotations | Page 2

It's always difficult to define what jazz is or what jazz isn't. To me, the only definition that I can think of is it's music where a lot of different elements are played at the same time. The harmonic, the melodic... You're pushing the boundaries on every level. That could be true of rhythm and blues as well. I'm a musician.

Logically, when you talkin' about folk music and blues, you find out it's music of just plain people.

I am really excited about the whole blues aspect of the festival, which celebrates the music of E.D. Bell, a Greenville man who made some of the best blues music of the 1920s.

I am truly honored that the Blues have elected to retire my number, and I'm flattered to join the list of players who have been recognized before me. I will always consider myself part of the Blues family and will look back on my playing days here with fond memories of my teammates, my coaches, the staff and, last but not least, the fans.

When I went to Memphis and Mississippi and Nashville, I learnt the blues is a whole way of life. I don't really have the blues, but I can appreciate the honesty and the simplicity of it.

Blues music is a tool to help you deal with bad stuff in your life. If you've got a problem, I don't care what it is, if you put it to some music, you are going to feel better.

Blues is the roots, and everything else is the fruits. Just like you can't make soup without water, you can't make music without some element of the blues.

It?s a lot of fun for everyone who plays and everyone who comes to watch. People really get into it. Last year?s Town Hall team dressed in St. Patrick?s Day garb, while the year before they brought us out of the winter blues with a Hawaiian dress theme, complete with leis. You forget the fact that it?s a fund-raiser.

The allure of the kind of blues that this town is known for is still here. If the crowd at one of these venues claps for me, that will be more satisfying than a venue in a large city.

The Blues will have to be tackled because they will attack us from everywhere.