I think the church should strive to give parishioners good music. Music is as necessary for worship as a building with a beautiful altar, artwork, and stained-glass windows. Together they create an environment conducive to worship and contemplation. We are not in church for entertainment, but to worship.

We don't know the power that's within our own bodies

You could play probably a span of 50 years of me playing St. Louis Blues, and most of the time it will be different every time.

Jazz stands for freedom. It's supposed to be the voice of freedom: Get out there and improvise, and take chances, and don't be a perfectionist - leave that to the classical musicians.

Duke Ellington, Art Tatum, and many other great jazz musicians objected to their music being called jazz. While the outside world may want to put a label on it, those who create it think of it just as music, and tend not to classify it.

I prefer no one to teach me. I prefer to swing on my own.

Damn it, when I'm bombastic, I have my reasons. I want to be bombastic-take it or leave it.