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

I couldn't do "What's Love Got To Do With It", Tina Turner because it wasn't the right tempo; so I scratched it from the record. I wanted to do it about a year ago, but something happened.

You ever hear Buddy Miles play the drums? You know, he doesn't vary the tempo at all.

Sometimes [playing free] doesn't happen, because maybe a guy's wife'll come in, you know, and his ego will catch him. If everybody's completely just straight-without any old ladies over here, a fourth of whisky over there; if it's balanced right, it'll come off. It has to be. But when you get egos involved with playing free, you can't do it.

Everybody ought to listen to Benny [Carter]. He's a whole musical education.

I can hear what I want [people] to play. If you don't hear what you want someone to play, then you can't tell 'em.

When I heard Coleman Hawkins, I learned to play ballads