Get up from the piano ... Oscar is in the house. Who wants to be at the piano when Oscar is there? Find something else to do.

I didn't know Charlie Parker well, but I spent some time with him, and he was articulate and well-spoken with a lot of curiosity about music and the world. But the only way he seems to be depicted is as a junkie. And that's not the full picture.

At my age, I realize that my most precious possession is time, and I've got too much unfinished work to do to spend even a minute talking about myself.

He's no Bill Clinton!

In all honesty, I think I just played what I felt was right for me. And I think I would have done the same thing, even if I'd been born later, when Charlie Parker was influencing everybody. The truth is, I never gave it much thought. I just played what I had to play.

It (Strayhorn's Compositions) made us all think a little differently about what we were doing