Ray Conniff

Don't make art for other artists or for 'intellectuals', make art for people - and if you can touch just one person in a lifetime and make a difference - you have succeeded.

I went to the Paradise Restaurant on 49th Street and Broadway which was where they were playing, and I sat in.

If you believe in your art, and you love what you do, that energy will go out, and people will respond.

I don't think they're going to pay me to play Mufasa.

When I got sober, I thought giving up was saying goodbye to all the fun and all the sparkle, and it turned out to be just the opposite. That's when the sparkle started for me.

When I was a kid, my friends and I formed a band, Trombone Shorty's Brass Band. When I was six, I was a bandleader for my brother's band.