"One way and another I was having a ball - playing gigs, jamming and listening to fine musicians. Then came a crisis at home. My stepfather fell sick, and it meant I had to support the family."
"During the years I was with Andy Kirk we starved almost. I remember not eating for practically a month several times. But we were very, very happy because the music was so interesting, and you forgot to eat, anyway."
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More quotes by Mary Lou Williams
"I wonder what an agent would do if he had to travel with the band he's booking."
"It's not what you play, it's how you play it."
"Quite a few musicians came to our house. And my ma took me to hear many more, hoping to encourage in me a love of music. But she wouldnt consent to my having music lessons, for she feared I might end up as she had done - unable to play except from paper."
"Anything you are shows up in your music - jazz is whatever you are, playing yourself, being yourself, letting your thoughts come through."
"Many people forget that Jazz, no matter what form it takes, must come from the heart as well as the mind."