... The 'cleverness' syndrome has taken the place of melody. It's like everyone has come down with this terrible disease in jazz....you are always expected to do your own material, which is a strange thing to do if you're a poor composer but a great player.

Ideally, I'd like to be the eternal novice, for then only the surprises would be endless.

Once we're inside a tune, we can do anything with it.

Musicians are always gigging and never have a chance to stop for a minute.

I grew up with the piano. I learned its language as I learned to speak.

If a person plays dissonance long enough, it will sound like consonance. It's a language that was alien and then it's less and less alien as it continues to live.

When I joined the band I didn't know any of the tunes, and when I left the band I didn't know any of the tunes!