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.

Play what you know and then play above that

My father's rich, my momma's good looking. Right? And I can play the Blues. I've never suffered and don't intend to suffer.

The way you change and help music is by tryin' to invent new ways to play

Japanese people they hear my warmin' up and they start screamin'. They can tell it's me.It's my tone on the trumpet, it sounds like I'm speakin'.

At least one day out of the year all musicans should just put their instruments down, and give thanks to Duke Ellington.

Bebop didn't have the humanity of Duke Ellington. It didn't even have that recognizable thing. Bird and Diz were great, fantastic, challenging — but they weren't sweet.