Everybody cryin' mercy / When they don't know the meaning of the word..

My dad was a self-taught stride piano player. The myth is - I don't whether it's true or not - that he taught himself to play by watching a player pi….

I been getting good crowds. It only took 50 years..

Ever since the world ended, I don't go out as much.

I never sit down and write. I just sorta let things form in my brain..

I went through the whole number, you know. The swing era, the boogie woogie era, the bebop era. Thelonious Monk is still one of my favorites. So a lo….

I'm improvising all the time. Everything I do is improvised. On the piano, at least..

All the classic jazz players all sang and a lot of 'em sang blues..

I'm playin' the music I like..

I have no idea what I'm doin'. I've never seen me..

If it's worth remembering, I'll remember it. If something keeps coming back, if I keep thinking of that phrase, if I see manifestations of it at diff….

The jazz boom was goin' on then so there was a lot happenin' in New York at that time..

As far as I'm concerned, the essentials of jazz are: melodic improvisation, melodic invention, swing, and instrumental personality..

I just try to do as good job with the material as I can and play some jazz as well, some improvised music, and do that every night. Just see where it….

The things that really matter don't mix with idle chatter..

I sang and wrote songs when I was 12 years old..

You always want to write the perfect song. But no one will ever write the perfect song, I guess. I would just like to write on that has all the eleme….

I don't sit down to write a song; they just come to me from something that somebody says, or something in the news. The punchline comes to me, and I ….

It was the British rockers that saved me. They brought me to a different generation altogether [in the 60th]. The Who and The Yardbirds and Georgie F….

I told [my daughter Amy] at an early age that she had a good ear. But I didn't influence her music much. She's pretty much developed her style on her….

I'm playin' music for a certain type of person. Fortunately, there are more and more of us. At least there are more comin' to see me than there were ….