I was blessed that I got married early and had a good wife. That sort of kept me straight. Probably I would have been like Charlie Parker, you know, involved in drugs or alcohol or something like that if I hadn't had this stability.

I try to play the bare essence, to let everything be just what it's supposed to be.

There are a lot of great players... a lot of great players around, but Louie Bellson is really something special.

The sign of a mature musician is knowing what not to play.

I don't care much about music. What I like is sounds.

Miles got a mystique about him-plus he's at the top of his profession. And he's got way, way, way more money.

I used to do a lot of apologizing for what the State Department had done.