I think the band can really swing when it swings easy, when it can just play along like you are cutting butter.

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

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

Keep on listening & tapping your feet.

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 you play a tune and a person don't tap their feet, don't play the tune.

The real innovators did their innovating by just being themselves.