The mother-in-laws themselves weren't natural jokes but most comedians used to use that.

As an early child, I tried to play every kind of music that I heard. I thought everyone was doing that.

As a young child, I thought that all pianists played everything. I mean, I thought anything on piano - any piano music, all pianists played it.

Whenever I wrote songs - particularly back then - it would always be for a particular artist.

To play with a band all of the time, just about nightly, was good for me because I wrote lots of arrangements and I got a lot of my transposition and chords ironed out.

The mother-in-laws themselves weren't natural jokes but most comedians used to use that.

My music is homegrown from the garden of New Orleans. Music is everything to me short of breathing. Music also has a role to lift you up - not to be escapist but to take you out of misery.