Listening is more important than anything else because that's what music is. Somebody is playing something and you're receiving it. It is sending and receiving.

I dont enjoy traveling in America. I dont like the food, the cars. It is not exotic enough. It all tastes a bit like airline food.

It would be really hard to get serious about anything political today unless it was a joke.

I like chords that are very lush with all the lush parts taken out.

When Ronald Reagan was elected I was on a bus traveling with a band in France. I wrote a little arrangement of The Star Spangled Banner in a minor key.

I don't need much coaxing.

When you are studying jazz, the best thing to do is listen to records or listen to live music. It isn't as though you go to a teacher. You just listen as much as you can and absorb everything.