If someone has been escaping reality, I don't expect him to dig my music.

I was born swinging and clapped my hands in church as a little boy, but I've grown up and I like to do things other than just swing. But blues can do more than just swing.

I'm trying to play the truth of what I am. The reason it's difficult is because I'm changing all the time.

Most of the soloists at Birdland had to wait for Parker's next record in order to find out what to play next. What will they do now?

Jazz is the language of the emotions.

I never heard my music played the way I heard it in my head.

Making the simple complicated is commonplace.