"His favorite composer was Stravinsky, and his favorite work was Le Sacre du Printemps"

"Charlie Parker, his sound, his music... When I first heard him, the first time... it was the Pied Piper of Hamelin... I would have followed anywhere, you know... Over the cliff, wherever!

"I was working on 52nd street, with different people, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins ... And this guy walks down, he's got one green shoe, one blue shoe, rumbled, he's got his horn in a paper bag with rubber bands and cellophane on it... There he is, Charlie Parker..."