I Never Consciously Tried To Conceive Of

You Can Read All The Textbooks And Listen To All The Records, But You Have To Play With Musicians That Are Better Than You.

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 Cannot Play A Lie. I Have To Believe In What I Play Or It Won't Come Out.

I've Always Regretted The Fact That I've Never Formally Studied And Learned The Mechanics Of Writing Music.

Switch To Piano! No. Really, If You Like An Instrument That Sings, Play The Saxophone. At Its Best It's Like The Human Voice. Of Course, It Would Be Best If You Could Actually Sing With Your Own Voice. The Saxophone Is An Imperfect Instrument, Especially The Tenor And Soprano, As Far As Intonation Goes. Therefore, The Challenge Is To Sing On An Imperfect Instrument Or 'voice' That Is Outside Of Your Body. I Love That Challenge And Have For Over Forty-five Years. As Far As Playing Jazz, No Other Art Form, Other Than Conversation, Can Give The Satisfaction Of Spontaneous Interaction.