I'm a very, very stubborn man.

You can't be afraid of failure and you can't be afraid of success, because either one gets in the way of your work.

If I do a piece in my living room, if I practice it - and I have the tapes to prove this - it's not going to be as good as doing the same piece in front of an audience.

If you asked anybody in my family, they would have very stridently proclaimed themselves middle class. My mother and father were separated, so he doesn't count.

Most of what I listen to now is mainstream jazz from 1935 right up to and including early bebop and cool jazz.

By the mid-70s, I wanted to get out of the business. I was tired anyway.

God has a way of telling you when to change your strings.