Let's say you have some chicken stock and you're making soup, and out of everything you can taste, some of the things you put in and some of the things you don't. So you start out with an African spice then you hear some Brazilian music, so then it changes. Then you hear Jamaican and it changes again. And the result depends on how much of each spice you put into it. Now, I've been putting in spices since I started playing professionally in 1945.

As much as I think John Coltrane belongs on the list, I think without Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young, both of whom defined improvising on the tenor sax, there would not have been the evolution of the craft by John Coltrane.

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

The music we're playing now is based on my heritage, which is Russian, Romanian and Hungarian.

Being selfish to me means that you have to look out for yourself and you don't have to sacrifice.

If you keep your head in the sand, you don't know where the kick's coming from.

Being stubborn has helped, being selfish is not a bad thing.