I Never Bothered About Keeping

[the Producer Told Me:] "we Can Try One More Record, And We'll See How That One Does." Those Records Never Did Anything. My Music Never Got Mentioned. My Color Got Mentioned.

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.

I Don't Remember Any Impression [from Blues].the Blues Was Just Everywhere In The Mississippi Delta. It Was Mostly Black Sharecroppers Living There, And There Was A Lot Of Blues Around. Sometimes The Guys Would Sing The Blues In The Fields, Working.

I'm Always Storing Away Phrases And Ideas And Things That I Think Might Turn Into Songs.

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