Buddy Rich is one of a kind; he's a genius, and that's all there is to it.

Whenever I did a good performance, my Dad and my uncles, who were rabid movie fans, took me to the movies. There began my underlying love affair with film.

Buddy Rich is one of a kind; he's a genius, and that's all there is to it.

But, in fairness to them, too, the popular song per se is really a pretty shallow medium to perform in.

Since the advent of Benny Goodman, there have been too few clarinetists to fill the void that Goodman left. Ken Peplowski is most certainly one of those few. The man is magic.

It may sound a bit like an army barracks, but the truth of the matter is: there must be some time laid aside for arranging, time for working on either a book or an article - I've written two articles in the last four months for the New York Times book review section.

I want to sing for the broadest possible audience.