I've come close to matching the feeling of that night in 1944 in music, when I first heard Diz and Bird, but I've never got there. . . . I'm always looking for it, listening and feeling for it, though, trying to always feel it in and through the music I play everyday.

I said to [Lionel] Richie, "Man, my wife says you must really respect women because you write such beautiful love songs."

Certain drummers drop time, and I like to play on top of the beat.

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

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