The American drummer is a one-man percussion orchestra.

The people who really got me off were dealing with the musical potential of their instrument.

My point is that we much decolonize our minds and re-name and re-define ourselves . . . In all respects, culturally, politically, socially, we must re-define ourselves and our lives, in our own terms.

Jazz is a democratic musical form. We take our respective instruments & collectively create a thing of beauty.

Monk encouraged me to emancipate the drums from their subservient role as timekeepers.

I think that the rhythm sections, drummers in particular, are the unsuing heroes of the music. It's the rhythm section that has changed the styles from one period to the other.

They had all this talent, and they had no instruments. So they started rap music. They rhymed on their own. They made their own sounds and their own movements.