It seems to me that most people are impressed with just three things: how fast you can play, how high you can play, and how loud you can play.

I'm definitely a romantic, I don't think life is really worth all the pain and effort and struggling if you don't have somebody that you love very much

You don't know what love is, until you've learned the meaning of the blues, until you've loved a love you've had to lose.

I don't believe that jazz will ever really die. It's a nice way to express yourself.

Your looks are laughable, unphotographable, yet you're my favorite work of art. Is your figure less than Greek, is your mouth a little weak? When you open it to speak, are you smart?

I soon became aware that there wasn't enough time or opportunity to kiss all the girls in the world. The best thing is to stay cool - just be choosy and wait for the right opportunity.

In Europe they look upon jazz as art. In America it's a diversion. Somebody opens a restaurant and installs another band off to the side. People don't listen.

Well if I could play like Wynton, I wouldn't play like Wynton.

It takes a pretty good drummer to be better than no drummer at all.

The drummer; he inspired me to play like no one else I have ever met.

Artt Frank is my all-time favorite drummer. He always seems to know where I'm going.

You make mistakes, mistakes don't make you

(W)hat I write when I force myself is generally just as good as what I write when I'm feeling inspired. It's mainly a matter of forcing yourself to write.

I will perform My Heart Will Go On for the rest of my life and it will always remain a very emotional experience for me.

A song can be more than words and music ... when sung with soul a song carries you to another world, to a place where no matter how much pain you feel, you are never alone.

Reality is the #1 cause of insanity among those who are in contact with it

I know people who will gently persuade you to be forthcoming.

There's this freshness that happens within the first few takes of the actors actually listening to each other and actually really reacting.

The literacy level at Mississippi prisons? Fifth grade. Can't read, what are you going to do? If you've got a conviction rap, what are you going to do? It's a real crisis.

I don't really usually write sort of a cheerleader-type lyric.

The poor sleep little.