The stories from 1975 on are not finished and there is no resolve. I could spend 50 hours on the last 25 years of jazz and still not do it justice.

Do not lose your enthusiasm. In its Greek etymology, the word enthusiasm means, "God in us."

Louis Armstrong is quite simply the most important person in American music. He is to 20th century music (I did not say jazz) what Einstein is to physics.

Jazz is a very accurate, curiously accurate accompaniment to 20th century America.

I have come to the realization that history is not a fixed thing, a collection of precise dates, facts and events (even cogent commencement quotes) that add up to a quantifiable, certain, confidently known, truth. It is a mysterious and malleable thing.

By its very nature, no one person can ever be the center of Jazz.

There is no communication in this world except between equals.