Don't settle for style. Succeed in substance.
Trumpet players see each other, and it's like we're getting ready to square off or get into a fight or something.
There's the tradition in jazz of having the Battle of the Bands, and you do not want to get your head cut when you're playing.
Through improvisation, jazz teaches you about yourself. And through swing, it teaches you that other people are individuals too. It teaches you how to coordinate with them.
Ethics are more important than laws.
Whenever you face a man who's playing your instrument, there's a competition.
You need a team. You need people to push you. You need opponents.
Don't wish for someone else to do later what you can do now.
I have friends who will critique me much harder than any review.
The bandstand is a sacred place.
I'm not afraid of you being yourself. That's America.
It's important to address young people in the reopening of New Orleans. In rebuilding, let's revisit the potential of American democracy and American glory.
There's so much spirit of integration and democracy in jazz.
This rebuilding of New Orleans gives us the perfect opportunity to see if we're ready to extend the legacy of Dr. King.
I think that the blues is in everything, so it's not possible to neglect it. You hear somebody go 'Ooh ooh oooh,' and that's the blues. You hear a rock n' roll song. That's the blues. Somebody playing a guitar solo? They're playing the blues.
The musicians I respected were much older than me. I expected them to cut my head, and they did.
My schedule is always tight. But I like to have the pressure of having to finish doing something; it gives me an added edge.
There really have only ever been a few people in each generation who step out, are willing to put themselves on the line, and risk everything for their beliefs.
I became a man in New York. New York made me the musician that I am and the person that I am, so it's impossible for me to say I regret having lived there.
If you are serious about American culture and you are serious about Afro-American culture, you are in a lot of pain. You are not - you are not smiling about it.
Finally I was able to see that if I had a contribution I wanted to make, I must do it, despite what others said. That I was OK the way I was. That it was all right to be strong.
