Marian McPartland quotes:

I have a West Coast rhythm section and a New York rhythm section. I've got them spread out all over the place.

I'm trying to get the record that I made at my birthday party last year, trying to get that out, and the lawyers are diddling around with it and it probably won't be out until next year. I don't know.

I'd just as soon be on a good Steinway or Yamaha just as well.

That's something Mary Lou Williams used to tell me: If you're not feeling right about what you're doing and you play a minor tune it all comes back, falls into place. I don't know if that's true, but I do it.

So I have a friend who works for me once a week. She's got e-mail, so anybody that must send an e-mail, they send it to her and she faxes it to me. Sounds like a long way of doing things, but it works for me.

Baldwin is sort of getting to be a bit funny. I don't know what happened, but a few years ago they suddenly went bankrupt and Gibson bought the whole outfit. Since then they haven't seemed to be doing an awfully good job of providing pianos.

As long as I can still be on my own and do my own thing and be working full time, it's great.

It's awful to have to, but I've started thinking about that, you know. 86. I'm thinking, well, maybe I might make it to 90. At least I'd like to have my brains.

Boy, I'm just quietly doing my thing, and I hope they'll look around and get my record out.

At the risk of being a fuddy-duddy I don't have a computer; I don't have e-mail; and I really don't need something in my house that I would be sitting in front of for hours.

By the way, I got a Grammy, which was a big thrill.

Nowadays it seems to me nobody takes trouble about anything, especially writing songs.

One should leave the piano when Oscar comes in. This man is dangerous.

The house is in turmoil with records on every space. In the kitchen and in the dining room is covered with records. I don't have a big enough house to accommodate everything.

I need to get up and walk around and keep my knees from getting bad, which is what's happening.

I would really hate to have e-mail. It's bad enough with all the mail I get.

The key of D is daffodil yellow, B major is maroon, and B flat is blue.

I love to play in the different keys like B or F sharp, or keys that most people don't play in, because they have a better resonance or something. I'm really not fond of F and C. I just stay away from those if I can.

I started to play Jazz music in my early teens. A boyfriend brought records over, so I listened to everything

Duke Ellington is my choice for many reasons. Nobody has written so many great pieces of music, which are everlasting, and he has made them available to the world through his orchestrations of his work in a unique way. Lastly, he was himself a fine pianist. He covers the entire musical spectrum with his genius.

I'm not too fond of changing things into waltzes, but sometimes that works.

My hands look terrible but I can do anything I want to do, so, you know, I just think I'm playing all around with more good taste and not dashing up and down the piano.

So if I think of something in my head I don't have to do it. If I can't do I don't do it, I do something else.

There are a million good tunes.

Well it's because the record companies are pumping away with their commercial stuff. I think it's a shame.

Sometimes go around with guys who are scuffling -- for awhile. But usually they end up marrying some cat with a factory. This is the way world ends, not with a whim but a banker.