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

America is deeply rooted in Negro culture: its colloquialisms; its humor; its music.

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

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.

We have to make ourselves as perfect as we can.

My mother came from St. Thomas. I heard that melody and all I did was actually adapt it. I made my adaptation of sort of an island traditional melody. It did become sort of my trademark tune.

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.