You basically have to play everything (in New Orleans), because you're getting calls to play gigs of all different styles, from classical to R&B to funk; modern jazz to traditional jazz.

Well, my dad was the district attorney of New Orleans for about 30 years.

I do the things I like to do. It's sort of a bigger version of having more than one hobby.

New Orleans is my essence, my soul, my muse...

With a tone so rich, I would never be afraid of the dark. Steinway is the only and the best!

There are people who can't stand me, they say, 'God, he makes me sick', or, 'He's creepy', but it doesn't affect me too badly.

'The Christmas Song,' by Nat King Cole, is not only a masterful performance; to me it just sounds like the holidays. I've never sung it, because Nat's version is so perfect. I gotta leave it alone.

With imagination, I'll get there.

It is jazz music that called me to be a musician and I have always sang the songs that moved me the most.

Safety's just danger, out of place.

In my life I find that memories of the spirit linger and sweeten long after memories of the brain have faded.

Joy and happiness are the treasures of life and it comes when we appreciate and express gratitude for the abundance of our life.

True happiness involves the freedom to be yourself.

Dialogue should simply be a sound among other sounds, just something that comes out of the mouths of people whose eyes tell the story in visual terms.

Everybody has their own approach. I don't adhere to any one philosophy. I learn a lot from life and people - watching and other people watching.

We demand from others only what we fail to give ourselves

I am not questioning your honor, I am denying its existence.

Focus on your customers and make that restaurant synonymous to where you are in terms of area.

I grew up on Don Knotts and Jerry Lewis and all the guys from Second City.

Light troubles speak; the weighty are struck dumb.

I balked at nothing, I was above nothing. Everything had something to teach me.