There's no future without the past and anybody who doesn't really understand where jazz has come from has no right to try to direct where it's going.

You don't decide you're hip. It just happens that way.

I keep reverting (to Duke Ellington), he to me is the greatest ever and my favorite jazz philosopher, as such.

A young tenor player was complaining to me that Coleman Hawkins made him nervous. Man, I told him Hawkins was supposed to make him nervous! Hawkins has been making other sax players nervous for forty years!

Hipness is not a state of mind, It's a fact of life!

Understanding is the least important thing when it comes to digging jazzbecause, like anything else, jazz is a form of entertainment. It is created to be enjoyed, not understood like you read a blueprint.

There's no future without the past and anybody who doesn't really understand where jazz has come from has no right to try to direct where it's going.