When [Billy] Strayhorn came on the scene, he just blew us away.

Miles Davis is one who writes songs when he plays.

I like what I hear other guys doing, but the thing that really attracts me is melodic playing.

The Russian composers, especially, tricked the symphony orchestra into the kind of dynamic, rhythmic thing

The first reason for starting to do the symphony concerts was to play this new piece of mine.

New York is still where I live most of the time.

Now, the instrumentation in the jazz band and the jazz dance band has gone through many evolutions. For instance, in the 'twenties the tradition was two or three saxophones