Improvisation is the ability to talk to oneself..

In short, [Coltrane's] tone is beautiful because it is functional. In other words, it is always involved in saying something. You can't separate the ….

If you take the creation of music and the creation of your own life values as your overall goal, then living becomes a musical process..

I try to imitate on the piano the leaps in space a dancer makes..

Doesn't that fool know I recorded that song because I like it?.

You must surrender whatever preconceptions you have about music if you're really interested in it..

Rhythm is the life of space of time danced through..

I understand about the relative strengths of people, and I don't think people have to be anything. They can be nothin' if they want to be..

The quality of life, values that go down to doin' that, that's the issue..

I discovered very early that it wasn't quite enough for me to imitate people..

To feel is perhaps the most terrifying thing in this society..

To me, the piano in itself is an orchestra..

Sometimes when it goes really well, you wonder, "who's that at the piano?".