In some ways Lester Young is the most complex rhythmically of any musician. He does some things which are just phenomenal.

Out of Coltrane's whole history, there are things which I think are great from all the periods.

It was 100 percent music. There was no ego involved, no attitudes, no black and white, it was pure music.

Names and theoretical things don't occur to me. If they do, I'm not doing my real playing mode.

I always felt as a horn player, a jam session wasn't satisfying enough for me. I should have been a rhythm section player, actually.

I hear many extra-musical things somehow in Coltrane.

I love Indian music very much, but I haven't studied that specifically.

A first love always occupies a special place.

You just keep playing. If someone special comes along and organizes it in a new way, then you'll have another approach and everybody will jump on it to try to learn.

As long as there are people trying to play music in a sincere way, there will be some jazz.

Bernstein grew up in my building in New York. He's a very, very fine player. When he was a kid, he came by to find out what was going on in the world of jazz.

I have been able to get a small audience. It's not the huge audience, but it's enough to make it possible to play. I appreciate that.

Many people do think it's naive to improvise in front of paying customers. I'm not saying one way is better than another.

Sound is the first thing that we tune into.

Most jazz players work out their solos, at least to the extent that they have a very specific vocabulary.

We all learn from each other, and I never really hung out with guys in that way, so I missed out.

A lot of bands were doing remotes from ballrooms around the country.

Benny Goodman was one of the big influences as a clarinet player. That's why I wanted the clarinet.

I could stop and say, Well that was a D minor, G seven, but I really don't want to know that. I just want to know that there's a combination of notes that makes a sound.

It's very demanding to make up your own music.

I just completed a tour in Europe. I played every night. This requires traveling some days for six hours in a van or a train or a car. After six weeks of that, I checked into the hotel and just fell apart.

After playing now for 60 years, it's still very challenging for me to play a simple melody and have it clean and touch the reed at the proper time in the proper way.

I listen to classical music very much. There's a lot of jazz that I don't enjoy listening to.

Labels don't mean anything to me. I'm trying to play as passionately as I'm able to. If they want to call that cool, that's fine. Just spell the name right, is the formula.

I understood that if I wanted to work, the saxophone was the main instrument. The clarinet was what we call a double.

In some ways Lester Young is the most complex rhythmically of any musician. He does some things which are just phenomenal.

I'd like to feel that whatever I play is a result of whatever I've heard.

I wish that person outside would stop coughing.

I think it took me half a page of 'Wolf Hall' to think: 'This is the novel I should have been writing all along.'

If I want to average 32 points a game, I can do that easily. It's just eight, eight, eight, eight. No problem. I can do that anytime. That's not being cocky. That's confidence.

Race is something that's always haunted American policing.

I took pleasure when I could. I acted clearly and morally and without regret. I'm very lucky.

Out of the bitter experiences of the panic of 1819 emerged the beginnings of the Jacksonian movement, dedicated to hard money, the eradication of fractional reserve banking in general, and of the Bank of the United States in particular.

Shipping is so cheap that it makes more financial sense for Scottish cod to be sent 10,000 miles to China to be filleted, then sent back to Scottish shops and restaurants, than to pay Scottish filleters.

'Great Expectations' is one of the greatest stories.

I believe that democracy is about values before it is about voting. These values must be nurtured within society and integrated into the electoral process itself.

I have been very fortunate to be successful in business, and I believe that it is right that people who have this type of wealth should give something back into society.

Our friends have nothing to do with the business. Some of our closest friends in Florida are not stars.

I myself would like to become more disciplined within my work.

And the turtles, of course all the turtles are free, as turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be.

Obama's economic policies obviously have not worked, and have left the American market place with enormous uncertainty and anxiety.

I always loved the verve and vivacity of pulp and I kind of merged it with my own interest in family stories.

I'd always enjoyed acting at high school, and I was all lined up to do an honours degree course in biology at a Canadian university, and at the eleventh hour the drama teacher I had said, 'You know, you'll get a lot more girls if you go into acting,' and that kinda sold it.

When people say I look intimidating, it's hard for me to relate to. I hear that a lot. I don't know why.

Do not let yourself be tainted with a barren skepticism.

If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present.

I'm not a potato sack; I've never sat on my couch. If I'm home, I'm cleaning, feeding my dogs, doing stuff. Life is too precious to waste time.

I can't eat before I go onstage because I've learnt that burping on stage isn't a good thing. It's all about acid reflux.

I am often critical of Israel's policies when in the country, but then feel defensive of them when overseas.