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

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.

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

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

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.

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 means that a man uses to say something from what he ultimately says. Technique is not separated from its content in a great artist.

To me, the piano in itself is an orchestra.

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

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

Improvisation is the ability to talk to oneself.