I don't need much coaxing.

I don't think you can ever regain your ignorance.

I still prefer the bebop of the '40s. The very stuff I started out with is still the best to me. I have come full circle.

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

One performer whose band played my music better than I could myself was Art Farmer. He recorded 'Sing Me Softly of the Blues' and 'Ad Infinitum'.

I just got to hear every note. After I left Birdland, I started working at the Jazz Gallery. In the end, I still couldn't play, but I knew how to listen. I was probably the world's best listener.

Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker seemed so sophisticated and bad. I wanted to be like that.