- Johnnie Cousin: Me? Oh, I belong to that new minority group: white American jazz musicians. They're going to hold a mass meeting in a phone booth.
- [laughs]
- Benny: You left your horn in my room, baby. I found it under the bed.
- Cass Michaels: Ain't you the thorough little housekeeper. What city was that?
- Benny: Saxville. I figured if nobody called for it in 30 days, I could keep it. But, it'd be just like you not to call; so, here it is.
- Allan Ganley - Drums: Hey, Chas, I see you got here first.
- Charles Mingus - Bass: Yeah, baby, and I'll be the last one to leave.
- Johnny Cousin: I'm gonna put my coat upstairs.
- Benny: Yeah, well, don't put it with the rest of the cats. Some of the talent might rub off.
- Charles Mingus - Bass: Here's to their first anniversary: Rex and Delia. One year down and a *long* night to go.
- [first lines]
- Charles Mingus - Bass: Hey Rodney.
- Rod Hamilton: Don't stop, man.
- Charles Mingus - Bass: Hope you don't mind. I just walked in.
- Delia Lane: I have found out what I really am: a domestic animal.
- Johnny Cousin: A beautiful house cat.
- Aurelius Rex: Will you ever be sorry that you married me?
- Delia Lane: Never.
- Aurelius Rex: You don't feel in an alien world?
- Delia Lane: Don't say that.
- Dave Brubeck - Piano: Hi, Dad.
- Aurelius Rex: Glad to see you Dave.
- Rod Hamilton: If I'd known you were coming, I'd have had the piano tuned.
- Aurelius Rex: The way Dave plays, any piano sounds good.
- Johnny Cousin: Maybe you want to blow sideman for the rest of your life while somebody else takes the bows and the loot. I'm 35 years old and I'm nowhere.
- Cass Michaels: I owe Rex something, don't I. When I got busted, he's the one that bailed me or I'd be in jail right now. When I was sick, he sent me off with the cure. When I was wicked, he got me this headshrinker. I mean, Rex was great. And if he don't like pot, then juice is good enough for me.
- Johnny Cousin: I sympathize. I mean, if a guy can't make a move on his own, it's just another way of being hooked. Isn't it?
- Phales: He came over here and insulted Lou, in very insulting terms.
- Johnny Cousin: Lou. Lou, you got to overlook it. He's a very sick boy.
- Phales: Sick? He's stoned!
- Cass Michaels: The boy's out of his head.
- Johnnie Cousin: I'm out of my head, all right! Like every other hand licker you got workin' for you. How many guys you got blowin' their heads off for scale right now? And who gets the bread?
- Cass Michaels: Since you know him, you're acquainted with his hypothesis that jazz is most appreciated by three groups: negroes, adolescents, and intellectuals.
- Lou Berger: So?
- Cass Michaels: Well, you ain't no negro, Mr. Berger. And you're not adolescent. And as for the third group...