There are a lot of great players... a lot of great players around, but Louie Bellson is really something special.

As a musician you have to keep one foot back in the past and have one foot forward into the future.

I don't care much about music. What I like is sounds.

Men have died for this music. You can't get more serious than that.

It's taken me all my life to learn what not to play.

One of the reasons we're here is to be a part of this process of exchange.

You can't steal a gift. Bird [Charlie Parker] gave the world his music, and if you can hear it you can have it.

I try to play the bare essence, to let everything be just what it's supposed to be.

The sign of a mature musician is knowing what not to play.

There have been two great revelations in my life: The first was bepop, the second was homeopathy.

Where there's no mutual respect, there's trouble!

Time felt slower when we do nothing but wait.

Only the man who thinks himself a fool is as wise as he thinks.

Knowledge can never imprison you, but you can be captive to your ignorance.

A fair request should be followed by the deed in silence.

The worst thing that can happen is death, and that's not the worst thing in the world either.

If it takes you 20 or 25 years to establish yourself in one field, you really ought to be careful not to stray too far.

Art is a reflection of everything that impacts your life.

Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine.

It is the gift of heaven and not of reason.

Let there be gall enough in thy ink, though thou write with a goose-pen, no matter.