If I don't have friends, then I ain't nothing.

The only reason they're out there is to see me fall into the damn orchestra pit.

I never had a chance to play with dolls like other kids. I started working when I was six years old.

Sometimes it's worse to win a fight than to lose.

All dope can do for you is kill you... the long hard way. And it can kill the people you love right along with you.

I don't think I'm singing. I feel like I'm playing a horn...What comes out is what I feel.

I try to improvise like Les Young, Louis Armstrong or someone else I admire. What comes out is what I feel.