If You Sacrifice Your Art

Look, Man, All I Am Is A Trumpet Player.

Bebop Didn't Have The Humanity Of Duke Ellington. It Didn't Even Have That Recognizable Thing. Bird And Diz Were Great, Fantastic, Challenging — But They Weren't Sweet.

Do Not Fear Mistakes. There Are None.

A Lot Of People Ask Me Where Music Is Going Today. I Think It's Going In Short Phrases. If You Listen, Anybody With An Ear Can Hear That. Music Is Always Changing. It Changes Because Of The Times And The Technology That's Available, The Material That Things Are Made Of, Like Plastic Cars Instead Of Steel. So When You Hear An Accident Today It Sounds Different, Not All The Metal Colliding Like It Was In The Forties And Fifties. Musicians Pick Up Sounds And Incorporate That Into Their Playing, So The Music That They Make Will Be Different.

If You Got Up On The Bandstand At Minton's And Couldn't Play, You Were Not Only Going To Be Embarrassed By The People Ignoring You Or Booing You, You Might Get Your Ass Kicked.