Playing the game, and unfortunately, playing the gangster game is very profitable.

Billy Strayhorn wrote Multicolored Blue. Billy to me is the boss of the arrangers.

I was the most subtle person in the world.

The climate in the '50s and '60s for black performers or black people in the entertainment business was atrocious. It was atrocious.

China's got a billion people and a hit record over there is a million records. You know that ain't right.

I tell my kids and I tell proteges, always have humility when you create and grace when you succeed, because its not about you. You are a terminal for a higher power. As soon as you accept that, you can do it forever.

Jazz has the power to make men forget their differences and come together... Jazz is the personification of transforming overwhelmingly negative circumstances into freedom, friendship, hope, and dignity.