If ya ain't got it in ya, ya can't blow it out.

I'm a spade, you're an ofay. Let's play.

You got to love to be able to play

It ain't whatcha say, it's the way howcha say it.

[Bebop is] Chinese music.

Never play a thing the same way twice.

The Brick House was one of the toughest joints I ever played in ... Guys would drink and fight one another like circle saws. Bottles would come flying over the bandstand like crazy and there was lots of plain common shooting and cutting. But somehow all that jive didn't faze me at all. I was so happy to have some place to blow my horn.