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.

I learn something new every day.

We recorded to document ourselves, not to sell a lot of records.

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.

The value of jazz still has to be clarified. People involve themselves with its superficialities without digging for its soul.

The saxophone is actually a translation of the human voice, in my conception. All you can do is play melody. No matter how complicated it gets, it's still a melody.

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!