Men have died for this music. You can't get more serious than that.

You can't steal a gift. Bird [Charlie Parker] gave the world his music, and if you can hear it you can have it.

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

The idea of life is to give and receive.

Learn to play the piano, man, and then you can figure out crazy solos of your own.

Many critics always saw and heard that my style comes from Roy Eldridge, which is true. But for many things, not only how to play the trumpet but the way to choose the notes, how to play them and how to phrase all of them, I took that from Sweets [Edison]. He really brought something new to the trumpet.

Mutual respect is so important because as soon as it disappears in relations between you and the next person, there's trouble.