All a musician can do is to get closer to the sources of nature, and so feel that he is in communion with the natural laws.

I first met Miles Davis about 1947 and played a few jobs with him and Sonny Rollins at the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan. During this period, he was coming into his own, and I could see him extending the boundaries of jazz even further.

I think that he is one of the most unique voices in all of jazz. Nobody sounds like him.

Jazz will endure just as long people hear it through their feet instead of their brains.

I’ve found you’ve got to look back at the old things and see them in a new light.

My music is the spiritual expression of what I am — my faith, my knowledge, my being...When you begin to see the possibilities of music, you desire to do something really good for people, to help humanity free itself from its hangups...I want to speak to their souls.