"I think I love it more as I get older because I keep getting better on drums, vibes and piano."

"Playing is my way of thinking, talking, communicating."

"I feel honored to have been a part of that dramatic change."

"Every day I look forward to getting with my instruments, trying new things."

"So I always figured I'd still be playing at this age."

"Seemed to me that drumming was the best way to get close to God."

"I worked hard learning harmony and theory when I was growing up in Chicago in the 1920s."

"Playing gives me as much good feeling now as it did when I was a bitty kid."

"Music was our wife, and we loved her. And we stayed with her, and we clothed her, and we put diamond rings on her hands."

"Black and white players hadn't appeared together in public before Teddy Wilson and I began working with B.G."

"Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind."

"Working with Benny was important for me and for black musicians in general."