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

Anybody can make the simple complecated. Creativity is making the complecated simple.

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.

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.

My music is evidence of my souls will to live.