Bach is how buildings got taller. It's how we got to the moon.

Whatever coast he's on, a man should be himself. I don't write in any particular idiom, I write Charles Mingus.

Jazz music is a language of the emotions.

That sound in tune to you?.. Sounds sharp to me. Sounds like I'm playing sharp all the time. My singing teacher told us you should do that. Maybe I got it from her. She said singers when they grow old have a tendency to go flat. So if you sing sharp as a young person, as you get older and go flat, you'll be in tune. In other words, it's never thought good to be flat. It means you can't get to the tone.

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

Most customers, by the time the musicians reach the second set, are to some extent inebriated. They don't care what you play anyway.

I'm too busy playing. When I'm playing I don't pay attention to who's listening. When I was listening I listened to symphony orchestras, Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Stravinsky. You don't listen to one instrument; you listen to music.