I have a tremendous desire to learn, and to grow, and to develop whatever I have that will make for any kind of improvement in me.

For a while we had trouble trying to get the sound of a champagne cork exploding out of the bottle. I solved the problem by sticking my finger in my mouth and popping it out.

Duke Ellington was famous for hs very original harmonic patterns.

By 1969, when I celebrated 45 years in the music business, I also had 45 people in our musical family.

The ones the listeners loved most of all in those early years were the four Lennon girls who became the whole nation's little sisters.

I realized some of the pitfalls of being well-known; it was nice if you were successful, but it made it just that much harder to take when you failed.

To be granted some kind of usable talent and to be able to use it to the fullest extent of which you are capable - this, to me, is a kind of joy that is almost unequaled.