Jazz Is Democracy In Music.

I Dress Up A Certain Way Because I Respect The Music.

How Great Musicians Demonstrate A Mutual Respect And Trust On The Bandstand Can Alter Your Outlook On The World And Enrich Every Aspect Of Your Life, Understanding What It Means To Be A Global Citizen In The Most Modern Sense.

One Thing About Excellence, It&mac226;s An Exclusive Club. And It&mac226;s Only For Those Who Really Want To Pay Dues To The S--. My Daddy Told Me When I Was A Boy: The Only Way You Can Be Different From Other People Is To Do Some S-- They Don't Want To Do.

I Had To Figure Out How To Survive In New York, And Most Of My Time Was Occupied In Getting An Apartment And Getting Money. A Lot Of Older Jazz Guys Looked Out For Me And Found Me Gigs And Places To Stay.

When I Came To New York, To Brooklyn, I Met Alvin Ailey And Stanley Crouch And August Wilson. They Were Always Putting Things In A Philosophical Context. All The Great Jazz Musicians Did, Too. There Was Always A Sub-context To What They Were Saying About Music Even Though They Would Be Very Down Home And Earthy. So I Started To Develop, In Addition To My Power And Ability To Simply Hear, A Way To Place Myself In A Time.