Don't be afraid, just play the music.

Once I could play what I heard inside me, that's when I was born.

Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art.

I don't care who likes it or buys it. Because if you use that criterion, Mozart would never have written Don Giovanni, Charlie Parker would have never played anything but swing music.

I kept thinking there's bound to be something else? I could hear it sometimes, but I couldn't play it.

You've got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail.

You've got to learn your instrument.