I think we continually need to understand how important an event the war was - how defining, how central to who we are. Everything that came before it led up to it, and everything of importance to this country - at least up to 1940 - was a consequence of it. Even now there's an echo of the war, however faint, in almost everyone's life.

The genius of our country is improvisation, and jazz reflects that. It's our great contribution to the arts.

I can understand why some of these drummers and bass players become cult figures with all of their equipment and the incredible amount of technique they have. But there's very little that I think satisfies you intellectually or emotionally.

To say that an artist sells out means that an artist is making a conscious choice to compromise his music, to to weaken his music for the sake of commercial gain.

There is no communication in this world except between equals.

History is malleable. A new cache of diaries can shed new light, and archeological evidence can challenge our popular assumptions.

Good history is a question of survival. Without any past, we will deprive ourselves of the defining impression of our being.