I am a person who thinks about the music first in trying to achieve something musically valid.

I'll know when I find the ultimate sound.

Jazz never ends... it just continues.

I guess I'm fortunate that I'm still around and I emphasize 'I guess', because you never can tell what musicians would be playing had they been around as long as I have.

The thing is this: When I play, what I try to do is to reach my subconscious level. I don't want to overtly think about anything, because you can't think and play at the same time - believe me, I've tried it (laughs).

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.

What I am more concerned about is whether our whole civilization will be around in the next 25 years.