I was always doing revolutionary things, things that would alert people, so they would stop being so subservient.
Whatever coast he's on, a man should be himself. I don't write in any particular idiom, I write Charles Mingus.
If you think this is weird, just look at yourselves.
If someone has been escaping reality, I don't expect him to dig my music.
Bach is how buildings got taller. It's how we got to the moon.
Just because I'm playing jazz I don't forget about me. I play or write me, the way I feel, through jazz, or whatever.