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

When we've finished the current tour I'm going to go back to Italy and see if I can do some more writing.

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

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

You start way down on a low B flat on the tuba and you have a chromatic scale; you can match the colours all the way up, till you get to the top of the trumpet.

You can make a saxophone into an electric organ; you can do everything with it

Actually, when I was very young, first starting to play, I think I probably listened more to clarinet players than to saxophones.