I’ve always had a deep love of live performance, it’s when I feel most alive.
I think I was supposed to play Jazz.
Jazz music just resonates with the frequency of me.
Everybody did something. It was very entertaining. We had a lot of fun. Lot of fun. And there was no segregation, that I could see. I never saw any.
Playing gives me as much good feeling now as it did when I was a bitty kid.
I still love the whole history of Jazz. The old things sound better than ever.
I love it. When they stop imitating me then I’ll start wondering where I’m going wrong. Every day when I sit down to play, I learn something new.
I had a really good time in New Orleans, although I had some very tragic times in Baton Rouge. Some guys beat me up and threw my horn away. ‘Cause I had a beard, then, and long hair like the Beatles.
I didn’t need to worry about keys, chords, melody if I had that emotion that brought tears and laughter to people’s hearts.
One very important thing I learned from Monk was his complete dedication to music.
People like the idea of the trio and so I did mostly trio.
If you got up on the bandstand at Minton’s and couldn’t play, you might get your ass kicked.
When Bird came on the scene, it was shocking as in the Bible: everything was dark and then there was light.
I have no one style.
While many forms of music may use the dynamic of improvisation, Jazz exemplifies the unique characteristic of collective improvisation.
Miles’ sessions were not typical of anybody else’s sessions. They were totally unique.
It doesn’t have to be happy music to be inspiring.
I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.
I’m fortunate that I’m making a living at it now because I’m not equipped to do anything else.
Music is the greatest communication in the world.
I’m fascinated with the electronic devices that we can mess around with.
