One very important thing I learned from Monk was his complete dedication to music. That was his reason for being alive. Nothing else mattered except music, really.

I'm not supposed to be playing, the music is supposed to be playing me. I'm just supposed to be standing there with the horn, moving my fingers. The music is supposed to be coming through me; that's when it's really happening.

No one is original. Everyone is derivative.

We have to make ourselves as perfect as we can.

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.

Improvisation is the ability to create something very spiritual, something of one's own.

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