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'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.

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 never consciously tried to conceive of what my sound should be.

Hearing myself so much all the time, I don't think I sound that special all the time because it's me.

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