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

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

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

Life is too full of distractions nowadays. When I was a kid we had a little Emerson radio and that was it. We were more dedicated. We didn't have a choice.

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

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 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.