And then adds with a laugh, 'but in retrospect I think he may have been more sophisticated than we were.'

If you asked anybody in my family, they would have very stridently proclaimed themselves middle class. My mother and father were separated, so he doesn't count.

I cut myself off from the mainstream of jazz. It stood me in good stead later on, as a musician.

Most of what I listen to now is mainstream jazz from 1935 right up to and including early bebop and cool jazz.

There is an apprenticeship system in jazz. You teach the young ones. So even if the musicians weren't personally that likable, they felt an obligation to help the younger musicians.

Most blues don't have a beginning, middle, or end. You just cut a couple slices of blues.

Honesty is the cruelest game of all, because not only can you hurt someone - and hurt them to the bone - you can feel self-righteous about it at the same time.