Man, they gave me a key to the city. Can you imagine going back to Indiana and getting the key to the city? So that made me feel pretty good.
I met up with Art Blakey in 1963, I think. It was right after Lee Morgan left and I played with him for about two and a half years.
I quite drinking, so I can think clear. When you have chop trouble, drinking doesn't help the healing process.
That was the biggest thrill, going over to these guy's houses and having them want me to practice with them and they would show me a lot of stuff, which was really advanced stuff to me at my age.
I'm going to Yoshi's. I'm taking a few gigs. I'm playing. I'm not going to play all the time. I'm going to take it easy and take it slow and warm up so I can come back.
Yes, I can play. I can play. I can't play as long as I did and as hard, but I don't think I have to.
I am in discussions with a label. We are talking about doing something.
When I got started in New York, it wasn't like it is now. If you were different from Miles and Dizzy, it was very difficult to make gigs and make money with your own style.
Dizzy used to tell me that I am playing too hard. He used to say to not give everything. Miles used to tell me that too.
I had heard Ornette a couple of times, but I didn't really know where he was coming from until we started the record and it was beautiful, Fred. It opened up my mind.