The Value Of Jazz Still Has To

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.

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!

If You Like An Instrument That Sings, Play The Saxophone. At Its Best It's Like The Human Voice.

A Good Quartet Is Like A Good Conversation Among Friends Interacting To Each Other's Ideas.

The Saxophone Is Actually A Translation Of The Human Voice, In My Conception. All You Can Do Is Play Melody. No Matter How Complicated It Gets, It's Still A Melody.