Hugh Hefner

It’s not uncomfortable for me to be a sideman, but I feel more comfortable as a bandleader.

One of the advantages of growing older is you learn what to leave out.

A Jazz man should be saying what he feels: humor, sadness, joy… all the things that humans have.

Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.

Once we’re inside a tune, we can do anything with it.

Life is a lot like jazz. It’s best when you improvise.

Jazz is not background music. You must concentrate in order to get the most out of it. You must absorb it.

The day of the great jazz improviser who doesn’t know how to read music is over.

There is nothing more stuntastic than rapping in front of an orchestra.

You know at an early age if you have a talent for music.

You have to pack as much as you can in an hour or 70 minutes. This time around it was 15 songs, so it was a challenge to get them all the right length so you could get them all on.

I have a nice car, a Mercedes. And then I have an old El Camino truck that I’m crazy about. I like to get in that truck and go up in the hills near where I live, in Vegas, and take my camera. That, to me, is Heaven, being out in nature, taking pictures of the wildlife.

Jazz music is a special skill that has brought pleasure to millions throughout the world.

Well if I could play like Wynton, I wouldn’t play like Wynton.

Yeah, it’s more like playing what you think is appropriate for the moment, not forcing any particular style.