For me, a zoom lens is a necessary evil. I have four primes and one zoom, but I need it because sometimes it's impossible or impractical changing the distance from the subject. Example:

Click image for larger version. 

Name:	06.jpg 
Views:	174 
Size:	80.2 KB 
ID:	1417

But I don't prefer primes for quality reasons. I started to take pictures with an angular, standard and tele lenses (28, 50 and 135 in fact). Now, it's easier for me to think in the picture, to figure it out from a certain and well known angle of view.