There have been many great musicians that, Clifford Brown is one great example, I mean he died very early, 25.

Charlie Parker stuck out in my mind.

Music represents nature. Nature represents life. Jazz represents nature. Jazz is life.

Improvisation is really not so much remembering things. And this is what I do when I play. I forget things. When I go on the stage, I want my mind to be a blank, so that I can - things can come into me without my knowing where they came from.

I am interested in my music lasting only while I'm alive. I'm not writing for the future.

I have always been a person who is concerned with the dignity of jazz music and the way jazz musicians have been treated and are treated, and the fact that the music has not been given the kind of due that it deserves.

...this is my dilemma. I'm a guy who makes things up as I go along, so nothing is ever finished - there are so many layers. So when you solo, yeah, you might get into one thing, but then, hey, everything has implications! You can hear the next level. And that's how I feel about improvising - there's always another level.