Teddy Charles Quotes

I started playing piano at home when I was around four or five years old. I had this strange ability to play things by ear. My brother did, too. He could play a Fats Waller style of piano. We’d listen to a record of Moonglow, for example, and he’d show me how to play the song just by hearing it.
Teddy Charles

When I started taking piano lessons, I had a terrible teacher. She was trying to teach me how to play the Happy Farmer while I was trying to play jazz tunes. So I quit and started to play on my own, by ear, by listening over and over to records.
Teddy Charles

I was so turned off by high school and the marching band that after I graduated in 1946 I left town before the ceremony. I traveled down to New York and auditioned at Juilliard for its summer program. I auditioned in front of two top professional percussionists. Fortunately, one of the guys evaluating me—Morris Goldenberg—was from Holyoke, Mass., and must have sympathized with me.
Teddy Charles