"I don't dig that modern jazz stuff. I like to hear a melody."

"To be a musician, you have to be something of a poet, and you have to be something of a philosopher."

"I never thought I'd live to see the day when a black man could walk into a white restaurant and eat."

"I never hurt a soul, I never stole a dime, I never lied to a woman. That's my life."

"To me, jazz is a way of life, not just music."