I just think swing is a matter of some good things put together that you can really pat your foot by. I can't define it beyond that.

Freddie Green has been my right arm for thirty years. And if he leaves the band one day, I'll probably leave with him.

I got everything I wanted. When I was young in Kansas City, I knew nothing about Frank Sinatra, Billy Eckstine, Ella Fitzgerald, of all those concert halls, of all those countries. I did not know what it was like to direct a band... All I wanted was to be big, to be in show-business, and to travel...and that's what I've been doing all my life.

If you find a note tonight that sounds good, play the same damn note every night!

I'll always remember when I first heard Lester [Young]. I'd never heard anyone like him before. He was a stylist with a different sound. A sound I'd never heard before or since. To be honest with you, I didn't much like it at first.

If a guy is gonna to play good bop, he has to have a sort of a bop soul.

I just think swing is a matter of some good things put together that you can really pat your foot by. I can't define it beyond that.