...people will go for anything they don't understand if it's got enough hype. They want to be hip, want always to be in on the new thing so they don't look unhip. White people are especially like that, particularly when a black person is doing something they don't understand...That's what I thought was happening when Ornette hit town.

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 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 have to be born with it. You can't even buy it. If you could buy it, they'd have it at the next Newport Festival.

With "We Are The World," I can't even eat when I watch that on television. If I'm eatin' some food, I have to put it down. I feel very strongly about that.

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

I really liked Wynton when I first met him. He's still a nice young man, only confused.