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.

You make different colors by combining those colors that already exist.

Jazz has borrowed from other genres of music and also has lent itself to other genres of music.

But, the truth is that everyone is somebody already.

Jazz translates the moment into a sense of inspiration for not only the musicians but for the listeners.

A jazz musician is not a jazz musician when he or she is eating dinner or when he or she is with his parents or spouse or neighbors. He's above all a human being . . . the true artform is being a human being.

In World War II, jazz absolutely was the music of freedom, and then in the Cold War, behind the Iron Curtain, same thing. It was all underground, but they needed the food of freedom that jazz offered.