When I got started in New York, if you were different from Miles & Dizzy it was very difficult.

I advise all the young kids to not overwork. You can't be out there blowing hard. You have to pace yourself.

When I got started in New York, if you were different from Miles & Dizzy it was very difficult.

Dizzy used to tell me I'm playing too hard. He'd say to not give everything. Miles told me that too.

We all kind of grew up together with Art Blakey because we all were young and he gave us a chance to write. We had to write something that was good and to sit up with a great guy like Art Blakey and watch him.

Don't make the mistakes I made of not taking care of myself. Please, keeps your chops cool and don't overblow. If you are going to play hard, be sure to warm up. I'd get carried away trying to stay right with the momentum [of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers]. I used to try and play like Coltrane and solo for 30 or 40 choruses. It all caught up with me.

A very few musicians passed across all decades. In terms of trumpet playing, Louis Armstrong does it of course but Sweets [Edison] is right up there too. He is unique, in every sense of the term.