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.

People are afraid to spend money now because they dont know how long theyre going to be working.

I'm aware that a lot of what is happening in jazz has not had a very dynamic change in a long time.

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.

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

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

The music becomes something that is its own entity.