1. “If you like an instrument that sings, play the saxophone. At its best it’s like the human voice.”
2. “I cannot play a lie. I have to believe in what I play or it won’t come out.”
3. “There are four essential qualities to a great jazzman. They are taste, courage, individuality and irreverence.”
4. “I compulsively reach for perfection in music, often at the expense of everything else in my life.”
5. “The value of jazz still has to clarified. People involve themselves with its superficialities without digging for its soul.”
6. “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.”
7. “A good quartet is like a good conversation to each other’s ideas.”
8. “I’ve always regretted the fact that I’ve never formally studied and learned the mechanics of writing music.”
9. “I learn something new everyday.”
10. “You can read all the textbooks and listen to all the records, but you have to play with musicians that are better than you.”
11. “I came from an era when we didn’t use electronic instruments. The bass wasn’t even amplified. The sound was the sound you got.”
12. “You don’t rehearse jazz to death to get the camera angles.”
13. “We recorded to document ourselves, not to sell a lot of records.”
14. “I never have any trouble playing anything I can think of. The trouble is in thinking of what to play.”
15. “I never consciously tried to conceive of what my sound should be.”
