One of the things that I loved about listening to Miles Davis is that Miles always had an instinct for which musicians were great for what situations. He could always pick a band, and that was the thing that separated him from everybody else.

You hear it in your brain. Whatever makes sense. Some songs work well as quartet songs, sometimes they don't.

We have something that is unique. We have our craft. We have our art. We have our desire.

A lot of musicians have a tough time hearing what we're doing in a trio format.

The way to learn the language is to rip off other players. As Benny Golson told me, "We all start off sounding like other cats. And gradually, a lick here or there,we start to sound like ourselves. But it takes a long time to do so..." That'swhat he told me, and it worked for me.

There's not one Tin Pan Alley song on my record.

I gave up my base in popular culture when I left the Tonight Show.