I learn something new every day - to edit, to take out all the extraneous matter and stress form, logic, and content. I try to play beautiful music.

I came from an era when we didn't use electronic instruments. The bass wasn't even amplified. The sound was the sound you got.

If you like an instrument that sings, play the saxophone. At its best it's like the human voice.

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.

I never have any trouble playing anything I can think of. The trouble is in thinking of what to play.

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

My dark sound could be heard across a room clearer than somebody with a reedy sound. It had more projection. My sound always seemed to fill a room.