It's the group sound that's important, even when you're playing a solo.

Some people try to get very philosophical and cerebral about what they're trying to say with jazz. You don't need any prologues, you just play. If you have something to say of any worth then people will listen to you.

If you have something to say of any worth then people will listen to you.

If the average jazz artist uses his head and at the outset of his career realizes he won't play as well at fifty as he does at twenty-five, he won't be in a line-up outside the Salvation Army when he's fifty.

Montreal was a very active jazz center until club owners started putting in strippers instead of music. Before long, there was nothing to hear.

It's the group sound that's important, even when you're playing a solo.

I despair about the lack of proper respect shown for the piano. If you want it to sound like a traffic jam, go out in the street and forget the piano. That's not a piano sound.