Lionel [Richie] said, "Yeah, I learned chords and stuff playin' against your albums."

I like Stan [Getz], because he has so much patience, the way he plays those melodies - other people can't get nothing out of a song, but he can, which takes a lot of imagination.

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

Some of [drummers] drop time because they want to hear what you're doin'.

The music has gotten thick. Guys give me tunes and they're full of chords. I can't play them...I think a movement in jazz is beginning away from the conventional string of chords, and a return to emphasis on melodic rather than harmonic variation. There will be fewer chords but infinite possibilities as to what to do with them.

I can tell. I'm gifted with that, you know. When I hear that the tempo is slightly off, it's hard for me.

You can tell whether a person plays well or not by the way he carries the instrument, whether it means something to him or not.