A biography for Marian McPartlandhasn’t been written yet.
“By the way, I got a Grammy, which was a big thrill.”
“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.”
“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.”
“I'd just as soon be on a good Steinway or Yamaha just as well.”
“I need to get up and walk around and keep my knees from getting bad, which is what's happening.”
“I have a West Coast rhythm section and a New York rhythm section. I've got them spread out all over the place.”
“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.”
“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.”
“There are a million good tunes.”
“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.”
“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.”
“Boy, I'm just quietly doing my thing, and I hope they'll look around and get my record out.”
“Nowadays it seems to me nobody takes trouble about anything, especially writing songs.”
“Although I do feel that with a show like ours we ourselves are getting a lot more young listeners at concerts.”
“As long as I can still be on my own and do my own thing and be working full time, it's great.”
“I'm not too fond of changing things into waltzes, but sometimes that works.”
“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.”
“I like minor tunes.”
“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.”
“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.”