It's not the notes you play, it's the notes you don't play.

Jazz musicians are so comfortable. The reason they can't do what we do is because they're so comfortable doin' what they do.

Drummers - sometimes they play and they listen. And that little listen takes a speck away from the right tempo.

We don't play to be seen. I'm addicted to music, not audiences.

In high school I was best in music class on the trumpet, but the prizes went to the boys with blue eyes. I made up my mind to outdo anybody white on my horn.

I don't like to hear someone put down dixieland. Those people who say there's no music but bop are just stupid; it shows how much they don't know.

If you had to call it "unison", it ain't unison. It ain't the same as somebody else. If you can hear that it's unison, and you have to name it something other than "unison", it ain't unison, you know what I mean? It's two guys playin', but one guy is playin' slightly out of tune, one is playin' slightly off meter.