There's a few tunes of mine that don't have jokes, but most of them have a joke and they have a humorous point of view somewhere.

As far as I'm concerned, the essentials of jazz are: melodic improvisation, melodic invention, swing, and instrumental personality.

A young man ain't nothin' in the world these days

I'm happy whenever anybody does my material. I don't care what they do with it. I do what I want to with other people's songs.

The jazz boom was goin' on then so there was a lot happenin' in New York at that time.

Ever since the world ended, I don't go out as much

I didn't feel anything [frustraiting]. I just kept working 110 or 120 nights a year.