I cannot play a lie. I have to believe in what I play or it won't come out.

I'm a recovered alcoholic. I don't do anything anymore, but those things, those things take away ... You're a different personality completely when you take those. For those who are really chemically dependent on anything, it's not you.

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

I've done some dastardly things but what can I do except make amends and apologize?

I played in rhumba bands, mickey mouse bands; all kinds of bands.

It’s like a language. You learn the alphabet, which are the scales. You learn sentences, which are the chords. And then you talk extemporaneously with the horn. It’s a wonderful thing to speak extemporaneously, which is something I’ve never gotten the hang of. But musically I love to talk just off the top of my head. And that’s what jazz music is all about.

I appreciate men like Ben Webster and Coleman Hawkins very much.