Art led the way for me to recover. He got out of prison before me and started traveling all over the world before I did. He showed me by example that it could be done, and I'll always love him for that.

I was an admirer of Art Pepper even before I went to California, when he was still in Kenton's band. His playing is joyous, great.

Art and I played more when we were in San Quentin together than when we were on the outside. We had a great band there with Frank Butler, Dupree Bolton, Nathaniel Meeks and some guys who learned how to play while they were in prison.

Certainly, as expected, there were no real surprises here.

Sometimes insiders get it right, and sometimes they don't,

While in prison, we had an excellent pianist named Jimmy Bunn, who also recorded with Bird. Jimmy would play a small accordion, and he, Art and I would play all day, nothing but ballads.