- "No one could play like Bud; too difficult, too quick, incredible!" - Thelonious Monk
- "Bud was the most brilliant that a spirit might be, a unique genius in our culture." - Max Roach
- "Bud is a genius." - Charlie Parker
- "He laid down the basis of modern jazz piano." - Dizzy Gillespie
- "Bud is a genuine genius." - Duke Ellington