I never dreamed I would be a Goodwill Ambassador, and for UNESCO. Perfect organization. It is apolitical and it's about education, science and culture. I mean that is what I live. That is what UNESCO is really about; it's all about bringing human beings together with one common goal, which is to move human kind forward.

I don't think there are any pure Africans of the African Americans, but the African part of our history was pretty much taken away from us during slavery, so the 60s gave us a chance, because of the civil rights movement, to kind of re-examine and make some sort of formal connection to our African-ness.

So in other words, we were constantly challenged to grow, and thats what a master does.

Buddhism has turned me on to my humanness, and is challenging my humanness so that I can become more human.

Wisdom is the key to understanding the age, creating the time.

One of the greatest attributes of jazz, I think, is that it is that open.

In the world of Art there are no wrong choices.