I Never Wanted This Kind Of Life

I Was Always Very Aware Of Drummers. My Oldest Brother Henry Was A Drummer, And He Drummed On Everything In The House From The Kitchen Sink To Stovepipes. He Was The First Drummer In The Gil Evans Orchestra, So You've Got To Know How Great He Was.

You Have To Be Taught To Hate.

Over The Years I've Had Strong Friendships With Many Priests. As A Matter Of Fact, A Group Of Christian Leaders From The National Council Of Churches Came To My House In The 1950s To Ask Me To Write Music For A Mass. I Didn't Think I Was Ready At That Time. So, In A Sense, I Guess Joining The Church And Writing The Mass Was A Culmination Of A Long Journey That Is Still Going On.

Jazz Is About Freedom Within Discipline.

So Often People Will Say That I Converted To The Catholic Religion. This Is False. Although I Was Raised As A Protestant, I Was Never Baptized And Had Never Been A Member Of Any Church. I Joined The Roman Catholic Church After I Had Written My Mass To Hope!during The Night I Dreamt The Entire Lord's Prayer With Chorus And Orchestra. I Jumped Out Of Bed And Wrote Down What I Had Heard As Accurately As I Could Remember. Because Of This Event I Decided That I Might As Well Join The Catholic Church Because Someone Somewhere Was Pulling Me Toward That End.