The only way a drum machine will get out of beat is for you not to pay your electric bill.

Jazz is an Uncle Tom word. They should stop using that word for selling. I told George Wein the other day that he should stop using it.

Anybody can play. The note is only 20 percent. The attitude of the motherfucker who plays it is 80 percent.

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.

All my inspiration comes from Ahmad Jamal.

My future starts when I wake up every morning.

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