Create Yours

Top 15 Oscar Peterson Quotes (2025 Update)

Oscar Peterson Quote: “It’s the group sound that’s important, even when you’re playing a solo. You not only have to know your own instrument, you must know the others and how to back them up at all times. That’s jazz.”

1. “It’s the group sound that’s important, even when you’re playing a solo. You not only have to know your own instrument, you must know the others and how to back them up at all times. That’s jazz.”

— Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson Quote: “If you have something to say of any worth then people will listen to you.”

2. “If you have something to say of any worth then people will listen to you.”

— Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson Quote: “I don’t do something because I think it will sell 30 million albums. I couldn’t care less. If it sells one, it sells one.”

3. “I don’t do something because I think it will sell 30 million albums. I couldn’t care less. If it sells one, it sells one.”

— Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson Quote: “I believe in using the entire piano as a single instrument capable of expressing every possible musical idea.”

4. “I believe in using the entire piano as a single instrument capable of expressing every possible musical idea.”

— Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson Quote: “The music field was the first to break down racial barriers, because in order to play together, you have to love the people you are playing with, and if you have any racial inhibitions, you wouldn’t be able to do that.”

5. “The music field was the first to break down racial barriers, because in order to play together, you have to love the people you are playing with, and if you have any racial inhibitions, you wouldn’t be able to do that.”

— Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson Quote: “Some people try to get very philosophical and cerebral about what they’re trying to say with jazz. You don’t need any prologues, you just play. If you have something to say of any worth then people will listen to you.”

6. “Some people try to get very philosophical and cerebral about what they’re trying to say with jazz. You don’t need any prologues, you just play. If you have something to say of any worth then people will listen to you.”

— Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson Quote: “We’re not like pop musicians who have to perform the same top ten tunes every night of a tour.”

7. “We’re not like pop musicians who have to perform the same top ten tunes every night of a tour.”

— Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson Quote: “I am the worlds laziest writer.”

8. “I am the worlds laziest writer.”

— Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson Quote: “It’s the group sound that’s important, even when you’re playing a solo.”

9. “It’s the group sound that’s important, even when you’re playing a solo.”

— Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson Quote: “Too many jazz pianists limit themselves to a personal style, a trademark, so to speak. They confine themselves to one type of playing. I believe in using the entire piano as a single instrument capable of expressing every possible musical idea. I have no one style. I play as I feel.”

10. “Too many jazz pianists limit themselves to a personal style, a trademark, so to speak. They confine themselves to one type of playing. I believe in using the entire piano as a single instrument capable of expressing every possible musical idea. I have no one style. I play as I feel.”

— Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson Quote: “First of all, I swore it was two people playing. When I finally admitted to myself that was one man, I gave up the piano for a month. I figured it was hopeless to practice.”

11. “First of all, I swore it was two people playing. When I finally admitted to myself that was one man, I gave up the piano for a month. I figured it was hopeless to practice.”

— Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson Quote: “I despair about the lack of proper respect shown for the piano. If you want it to sound like a traffic jam, go out in the street and forget the piano. That’s not a piano sound.”

12. “I despair about the lack of proper respect shown for the piano. If you want it to sound like a traffic jam, go out in the street and forget the piano. That’s not a piano sound.”

— Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson Quote: “I’m a musician and, just as the critics are hard on me, I’m hard on the critics.”

13. “I’m a musician and, just as the critics are hard on me, I’m hard on the critics.”

— Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson Quote: “Montreal was a very active jazz center until club owners started putting in strippers instead of music. Before long, there was nothing to hear.”

14. “Montreal was a very active jazz center until club owners started putting in strippers instead of music. Before long, there was nothing to hear.”

— Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson Quote: “Louie Bellson represents the epitome of musical talent. His ability to cover the whole musical spectrum from an elite percussionist to a very gifted composer and arranger never ceases to amaze me. I consider him one of the musical giants of our age.”

15. “Louie Bellson represents the epitome of musical talent. His ability to cover the whole musical spectrum from an elite percussionist to a very gifted composer and arranger never ceases to amaze me. I consider him one of the musical giants of our age.”

— Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson Quote: “He’s not a performer, he’s not a composer, he’s not even a musician, but Norman Granz is Mr. Jazz.”

16. “He’s not a performer, he’s not a composer, he’s not even a musician, but Norman Granz is Mr. Jazz.”

— Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson Quote: “I don’t believe that a lot of the things I hear on the air today are going to be played for as long a time as Coleman Hawkins records or Brahms concertos.”

17. “I don’t believe that a lot of the things I hear on the air today are going to be played for as long a time as Coleman Hawkins records or Brahms concertos.”

— Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson Quote: “If the average jazz artist uses his head and at the outset of his career realizes he won’t play as well at fifty as he does at twenty-five, he won’t be in a line-up outside the Salvation Army when he’s fifty.”

18. “If the average jazz artist uses his head and at the outset of his career realizes he won’t play as well at fifty as he does at twenty-five, he won’t be in a line-up outside the Salvation Army when he’s fifty.”

— Oscar Peterson

Motivational Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Entrepreneurship Quotes

Inspirational Entrepreneurship Quotes

Positive Quotes

Positive Quotes

Albert Einstein Quotes

Albert Einstein Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Motivational Quotes

INSPIRATIONAL SUCCESS MOTIVATIONAL

Inspirational Entrepreneurship Quotes

Inspirational Entrepreneurship Quotes

ENTREPRENEURSHIP BUSINESS INSPIRATIONAL

Positive Quotes

Positive Quotes

Albert Einstein Quotes

Albert Einstein Quotes

ENTREPRENEURSHIP BUSINESS INSPIRATIONAL

Steve Jobs Quotes

Steve Jobs Quotes

ENTREPRENEURSHIP BUSINESS APPLE

Inspirational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

COURAGE MOTIVATIONAL STRENGTH

INSPIRATIONAL SUCCESS MOTIVATIONAL

Swami Vivekananda Quotes

Swami Vivekananda Quotes

LIFE SPIRITUALITY

Save image...
Permalink
Open in new tab
Copy quote text

Beautiful Wallpapers and Images

We hope you enjoyed our collection of 15 Oscar Peterson Quotes.

All the images on this page were created with QuoteFancy Studio.

Use QuoteFancy Studio to create high-quality images for your desktop backgrounds, blog posts, presentations, social media, videos, posters, and more.

Thank you!

Please check your email.