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

You don't rehearse jazz to death to get the camera angles.

I practiced saxophone eight hours a day for the first two years I played.

When I got this saxophone, it became a religion. There wasn't TV, there wasn't much money, and there was just a real dedication.... I never thought of it as an art. It was just work that I loved. Not just work, but work that I loved. I loved it so much, I would play it if nobody listened to it. Any jazz musician, if there's nobody around to listen, would play just for the sheer joy of improvising music.

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

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

The saxophone is an imperfect instrument, especially the tenor and soprano, as far as intonation goes. The challenge is to sing on an imperfect instrument that is outside of your body.