Some people say there was no jazz tenor before me. All I know is I just had a way of playing and I didn't think in terms of any other instrument but the tenor

I made the tenor sax - there's nobody plays like me and I don't play like anybody else

If you don't make mistakes you are not really trying.

There's no such thing as bop music, but there's such a thing as progress.

I don't think about music as being new or modern. I just play.

Some of my biggest moments have been in jam sessions, but I don't want to talk about them. There were always other people involved.

You can separate the men from the boys and ballads.