You know, when I'm playing, I think of myself in front of the Wailing Wall with a saxophone in my hands, and I'm davening, I'm really telling it to the Wall.

Other than conversation, no other art form can give the satisfaction of spontaneous interaction like Jazz.

People think that I play effortlessly. I remember doing a record date with Bill Evans and afterwards he said to me, you make it sound so easy but when I get right up next to you you're working hard and making it sound easy!

I compulsively reach for perfection in music, often at the expense of everything else in my life.

You can read all the textbooks and listen to all the records, but you have to play with musicians that are better than you.

My life is music, and in some vague, mysterious and subconscious way, I have always been driven by a taut inner spring which has propelled me to almost compulsively reach for perfection in music, often - in fact, mostly - at the expense of everything else in my life.

A good quartet is like a good conversation among friends interacting to each other's ideas.