There are no wrong notes in jazz: only notes in the wrong places.

Sometimes, if you ask people to "go downstairs and get me this or that," they'll say, "It's rainin" or "It might rain," or "There's some bumpy roads on the road," or bla-bla-bla. They give you all those excuses, so when they do something which is easy, you're supposed to say, "Damn, you did that?"

In other words, an instrument should be an extension of you; it's supposed to sound like you - the way you walk, the way you dress, you know.

I can tell whether a person can play just by the way he stands.

Music is the framework around the silence.

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.

Some day I'm gonna call me up on the phone, so when I answer, I can tell myself to shut up.