Some musicians play with their heart, you know what I mean? I don't know what to tell a person that can't - if you can't tell a person what you're talkin' about when they're rushin' or droppin' the tempo, you get somebody else.

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.

I'm not messing around with nobody's woman. If I want a woman I go get her - you know what I mean?

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

My future starts when I wake up every morning.

It's a different ballgame now, so that lets [teo] Macero out. He's always complainin', always sick.

It took me twenty years study and practice to work up to what I wanted to play in this performance. How can she expect to listen five minutes and understand it?