Everything I do is Mingus.

Making the simple complicated is commonplace.

Let my children have music! Let them hear live music.

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.

In my music, I'm trying to play the truth of what I am.

Our nights didn't begin until after noon. Because in the old days, you'd start Birdland at 8:30 or 9 pm and play until 4 in the morning. Then you'd go out to the corner and talk to a couple of musicians - I used to talk to Oscar Pettiford a whole lot - you'd stand there till 7, 8 or 9, or else go down to the jam session at Minton's.