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" I've met every freak in the business. "

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" I lost my mother when I was 7 and they put her in a mental hospital. My brother and I watched her being taken away in a strait jacket. That's something you never forget. And my stepmother was like in the movie 'Precious.' I couldn't handle it. So I said to myself, 'I don't have a mother. I don't need one. I'm going to let music be my mother.' "

" I have all the tools and gadgets. I tell my son, who's a producer, 'You never work for the machine; the machine works for you.' "

" I was married for 36 years but now I'm free. "

" I tell my kids and I tell proteges, always have humility when you create and grace when you succeed, because it's not about you. You are a terminal for a higher power. As soon as you accept that, you can do it forever. "

" A great song can make a terrible singer sound good, but a good singer - you put a great song on top of that, you're really in great shape! "

" I travel like a maniac. I travel more than anyone I know. I love learning the languages. "

" I'm never in my life going to do a record that's a tribute to myself. I don't need it. "

" You make your mistakes to learn how to get to the good stuff. "

" Playing the game, and unfortunately, playing the gangster game is very profitable. "

" I like all music. The only music I don't like is bad music. "

" Melody is king, and don't you ever forget it. Lyrics appear to be out front, but they're not; they're just an accompanying factor. If they're good, you're really in good shape. Lyrics are written to be rewritten. "

" Arts is just as important as military defense, you know? Emotional defense is just as important. "

" The climate in the '50s and '60s for black performers or black people in the entertainment business was atrocious. It was atrocious. "

" I don't ever want to grow up. That's boring. "

" I was reading Omar Khayyam, Kahlil Gibran, Rumi, L. Ron Hubbard, all sorts of philosophy. Bebop cats are like that. Curious. I wanted to know about everything. "

" China's got a billion people and a hit record over there is a million records. You know that ain't right. "

" We were in the heart of the ghetto in Chicago during the Depression, and every block - it was probably the biggest black ghetto in America - every block also is the spawning ground practically for every gangster, black and white, in America too. "

Black And White

" After I learned the piano, I went on to learn percussion, the tuba, b-flat baritone, French horn, trombone, trumpet, most of the instruments in the orchestra. Trumpet was my instrument. "

" I was raised in Chicago and I guess that was one of the special breeding grounds for gangsters of all colors. That was the Detroit of the gangster world. The car industry was thugs. "

" I met Ray Charles at 14, and he was 16. But he was like a hundred years older than me. "

" Music in movies is all about dissonance and consonance, tension and release. "

" I'm probably the only one in the world you can name that's worked with Billie Holiday, Louie Armstrong, Ella, Duke, Miles, Dizzy, Ray Charles, Aretha, Michael Jackson, rappers. 'Fly Me to the Moon' was played on the moon by Buzz Aldrin. Sinatra. Paul Simon. Tony Bennett. I'm the only one. "

" After every war, there was a significant change in the music, and I can understand how that happened. If you participate in protecting the country, you think you can be part of it, but you come back home and it's worse than ever. "

" When I was 14, I was a passenger in a terrible accident. "

" My father was a carpenter, a very good carpenter. He also worked for the Jones boys. They were not family members, we weren't related at all. They started the policy racket in Chicago, and they had the five and dime store. "

" I got a scholarship to Seattle University and I was writing arrangements for singers and everybody. But the music course was too dry and I really wanted to get away from home. "

" I'm not a psychiatrist. "

" You cannot get an A if you're afraid of getting an F. "

" Frank Sinatra took me to a whole new planet. I worked with him until he passed away in '98. He left me his ring. I never take it off. Now, when I go to Sicily, I don't need a passport. I just flash my ring. "

" I believe that a hundred years from now, when people look back at the 20th century, they will look at Miles, Bird, Clifford Brown, Ella and Dizzy, among elders as our Mozarts, our Chopins, our Bachs and Beethovens. "