I'll play it first and figure out what it's called later.

If you make a suggestion and [musicians] don't know what you mean, you have to be able to do it yourself. I often sit down on drums and show 'em just exactly what I want. And I do it and then say, "How do you do that?" It's because I know how it looks, I know what I want to hear, and I don't drop or rush any tempo. It ain't in my body, it ain't in my nephew's body.

I usually write from the rhythm section...If a drummer got a funky beat on some things - like a half-shuffle or a shuffle or a backbeat that's even - I can write something.

Joao Gilberto on guitar could read a newspaper and sound good.

Play what you know and then play above that

Jazz is the big brother of Revolution. Revolution follows it around.

I really liked Wynton when I first met him. He's still a nice young man, only confused.