Someone once described his sound to me like "cutting butter with a hot knife", and I think that described it perfectly. In 1968 I caught him live at the old Riverboat restaurant in NYC (Empire State building)
with the Tonight Show band. I was 16, and I stood RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM practically the entire evening. He was absolutely jaw dropping , just staggering. His huge sound (no mike), tone, range, technique, everything. You have NO idea what an experience like that can do to a young trumpeter. I wanted to go home and practice for 7 hours. But the thing I remember from that night was how his sound carried right
across the room --- even to the back -- and it sung ABOVE the lead trumpet of Johnny Frosk. He just put SO much air through the horn. From that night forward, he was and still is my model and main inspiration
for picking up the horn . I have his sound in my head every day.