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.

Many jazz artists go to L.A. seeking a more comfortable life and then they really stop playing.

I miss playing with Miles. I did play with him a little while before he left the planet, but even at that time I longed to maybe do some things together.

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

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

I feel that L.A. has not always been my strongest base for support. That can be for various reasons.

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.