Man, you'd be surprised how much I'm learning - not only about myself, but about the musicians who came before me. You don't realize at first when yo….

When I got started in New York, if you were different from Miles & Dizzy it was very difficult..

Don't make the mistakes I made of not taking care of myself. Please, keeps your chops cool and don't overblow. If you are going to play hard, be sure….

Well, my sister played trumpet. Can you imagine having a sister blowing the trumpet around the house, Fred? And my brother, he played piano. Everybod….

They always want to sell me as a hard bopper..

We all kind of grew up together with Art Blakey because we all were young and he gave us a chance to write. We had to write something that was good a….

Jazz isn't like pop, where you sell millions of records with a hit. Your spirit and soul aren't important in pop music. But jazz is like classical mu….

[Lee Morgan] was the only young cat that scared me when he played. He had so much fire and natural feeling. I had more technique, but he had that fee….

When you are trying to do something when you are getting started and you are trying to make records for the first time, you want it to be the best..

A very few musicians passed across all decades. In terms of trumpet playing, Louis Armstrong does it of course but Sweets [Edison] is right up there ….

I used to try to play like [Miles Davis], and Miles caught me copying him one night at Birdland. He said, 'Hey man, why don't you play some of your o….

Dizzy used to tell me I'm playing too hard. He'd say to not give everything. Miles told me that too..

I advise all the young kids to not overwork. You can't be out there blowing hard. You have to pace yourself..

I quit drinking, so I can think clear. When you have chop trouble, drinking doesn't help the healing process..