To most jazz critics I was basically Kenny G.

Why do you have to retire at 65? Why can't you start at 70? You know, like wine. Why can't music be that way? My new band, we're playing stuff that's never been done before.

One of the advantages of not having a record contract is that you can make your own mistakes, you don't need somebody else to organize them for you.

I had sat in one day in Central Park with Bonnie and Delaney, and Duane was playing with them, so I asked if he wanted to work on an album. You never had to say to him how to play the guitar.

If you want to play somebody's music, you'd better go into his house.

To most jazz critics I was basically Kenny G.

My father's father came from Russia; my mother came from Romania.