When we edit the music, I always remember, "It's my band. Save me a place to play."

Music is the framework around the silence.

We're not going to play the blues anymore. Let the white folks play the blues. They got 'em, so they can keep 'em.

I don't pay no attention to what critics say about me, the good or the bad. The toughest critic I got is myself...and I'm too vain to play anything I think is bad.

If you're going to drop behind, you have to keep it there.

What's swinging in words? If a guy makes you pat your foot and if you feel it down your back, you don't have to ask anybody if that's good music or not. You can always feel it.

The music has gotten thick. Guys give me tunes and they're full of chords. I can't play them...I think a movement in jazz is beginning away from the conventional string of chords, and a return to emphasis on melodic rather than harmonic variation. There will be fewer chords but infinite possibilities as to what to do with them.