Improvisation is the ability to talk to oneself.

I understand about the relative strengths of people, and I don't think people have to be anything. They can be nothin' if they want to be.

You must surrender whatever preconceptions you have about music if you're really interested in it.

In short, [Coltrane's] tone is beautiful because it is functional. In other words, it is always involved in saying something. You can't separate the means that a man uses to say something from what he ultimately says. Technique is not separated from its content in a great artist.

I try to imitate on the piano the leaps in space a dancer makes.

To me, the piano in itself is an orchestra.

I discovered very early that it wasn't quite enough for me to imitate people.