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.

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.

I've always told the musicians in my band to play what they know and then play above that. Because then anything can happen, and that's where great art and music happens.

Jazz is like blues with a shot of heroin!

I was minding my own business when something says to me, "you ought to blow trumpet." I have just been trying ever since.

I always listen to what I can leave out.

Anybody can play. The note is only 20 percent. The attitude of the motherfucker who plays it is 80 percent.