In Europe they look upon jazz as art. In America it's a diversion. Somebody opens a restaurant and installs another band off to the side. People don't listen.

I like to play in the deep register. I was never a high-note specialist. My range goes from the bottom of the horn up to around C or D. High D is about it for me ... about two-and-a-half octaves, I think. But in these two-and-a-half octaves, I can say everything I have to say.

Artt Frank is my all-time favorite drummer. He always seems to know where I'm going.

You don't know what love is, until you've learned the meaning of the blues, until you've loved a love you've had to lose.

People said I'd never make 35, then I'd never make 40, 45; now I'm almost 50, so Im beginning to think maybe they might be wrong.

Your looks are laughable, unphotographable, yet you're my favorite work of art. Is your figure less than Greek, is your mouth a little weak? When you open it to speak, are you smart?

I'm definitely a romantic, I don't think life is really worth all the pain and effort and struggling if you don't have somebody that you love very much