I'm Improvising All The Time.

I Went Through The Whole Number, You Know. The Swing Era, The Boogie Woogie Era, The Bebop Era. Thelonious Monk Is Still One Of My Favorites. So A Lot Of These People Had Their Effect On Me.

My Dad Was A Self-taught Stride Piano Player. The Myth Is - I Don't Whether It's True Or Not - That He Taught Himself To Play By Watching A Player Piano.

I Remember The First Check I Got From The Who's Recording [of "young Man Blues"]. I'd Been Getting Checks For $10 And $15 And So Forth, And This One Was For A Much Larger Amount Than That. I Thought It Was A Mistake.

As Far As I'm Concerned, The Essentials Of Jazz Are: Melodic Improvisation, Melodic Invention, Swing, And Instrumental Personality.

I Just Try To Do As Good Job With The Material As I Can And Play Some Jazz As Well, Some Improvised Music, And Do That Every Night. Just See Where It Goes.