There are times when what's happening in rock is the best music in the world, and there are times when there is nothing worthwhile at all.

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.

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.

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 think you can ever regain your ignorance.

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'.

There are times when what's happening in rock is the best music in the world, and there are times when there is nothing worthwhile at all.