There were a lot of great things you could go and hear for very little money at the time [ '80s]. Mike Stern is still playing at the 55 Bar on Mondays or Wednesdays.

You hear about the struggles with substances and all that, but [Phil Wood] was a really a great guy. This was a great man.

When [Charlie Parker] saw the young guys, especially the ones that were scuffling... "Did you eat today?" And if you hadn't eaten, he'd take you and buy you some lunch.

We often have to lose what we thought we wanted to find what God wants for us

Joe Henderson with Ron Carter and Al Foster at the Vanguard was just wow. And the energy of the three of them.

When I heard Charlie Parker the first time on a record, it had seemed like an old, scratchy kind of record and I didn't get it.

[Manhattan School Of Music] were kind of just getting the jazz program up and going when I first started there. I was 17 in September of 1984 when I started there.