You can't play anything on a horn that Louis Armstrong hasn't played

I can't write anything for myself. I can write when I hear like [John] Coltrane play something; I used to write chords and stuff for him to play in one bar. I can write for other people, but I don't never write for myself.

First you imitate, then you innovate.

The music speaks for itself!

It's a different ballgame now, so that lets [teo] Macero out. He's always complainin', always sick.

Don't be afraid of mistakes - There are none.

I would never try and play like Harry James, because I don't like his tone - for me. It's just white. You know what I mean? He has what we black trumpet players call a white sound. But it's for white music ... I can tell a white trumpet player, just listening to a record. There'll be something he'll do that'll let me know that he's white.