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

It's not about standing still and becoming safe. If anybody wants to keep creating they have to be about change.

If you got up on the bandstand at Minton's and couldn't play, you were not only going to be embarrassed by the people ignoring you or booing you, you might get your ass kicked.

If I have a dynamite bass player - I have Darryl Jones - it's so easy to write for him because he's such a funky kid and he's gifted. He's like a little genius.

When you work with great musicians, they are always a part of you . . . their spirits are walking around in me, so they're still here and passing it on to others.

I can tell whether a person can play just by the way he stands.

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