When I was young I used to listen to everything.

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.

You would not exist if you did not have something to bring to the table of life.

We need to move into a culture of peace. What I hope to promote is the idea that we all need each other and that the greatest happiness in life is not how much we have but how much we give. That's a wealth that's priceless. You can't buy compassion.

One thing I like about jazz is that it emphasized doing things differently from what other people were doing.

I hope to use dialogue and culture as a means of bringing people of various cultures together, and using that as a way to resolve conflict.

The true artform is being a human being.