When [Billy] Strayhorn came on the scene, he just blew us away.

What I came back to is that jazz is a music to be played and not to be intellectualized on.

I'm fascinated with the electronic devices that we can mess around with.

It's true I've always been attracted to the jazz band in an orchestral way, rather than a band way.

Because if you've got the wit, you can make anything into a melody, ultimately.

You can make a saxophone into an electric organ; you can do everything with it

The first reason for starting to do the symphony concerts was to play this new piece of mine.

So I played alto for quite a while until I saved up the money for the baritone

This life of being a transient human being has gotten to a point when it's very hard to bear

People talk about innovations and evolutions and that kind of thing; I don't understand about that nonsense. It's like, all instruments are there to use all the time

In a way, I started out to be a baritone player.

Love when you can, and fight when you must, but stand together and never give up, not to the enemy, and not on each other.

Self-awareness is inevitably erratic, a work in progress, an etch-a-sketch that shifts with the slightest shimmer of movement. Doing the best we can is the best we can do.

Here's to Never Growing up

Stop trying, stop struggling; begin to be calm, to trust in the higher laws of life, even though you do not see them; they are still there.

You have the Savior of the world on your side. If you seek His help and follow His directions, how can you fail?

You can't make war in the Middle East without Egypt and you can't make peace without Syria.

Why do some people fall out of activity . . . for the same reason that they fall out of bed . . . they are not far enough in it.

I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!

One breath taken completely; one poem, fully written, fully read - in such a moment, anything can happen.

My heart gives thanks for empty moments given to dreams, and for thoughtful people who help those dreams come true