We have ordered things so long in a certain way, we are numb. Nobody dares question it. This is what is wrong, symbolically, with America.

Slavery has never been abolished from America's way of thinking.

I had spent many years pursuing excellence, because that is what classical music is all about... Now it was dedicated to freedom, and that was far more important.

To most white people, jazz means black and jazz means dirt, and that's not what I play. I play black classical music.

I'm just human, I have faults like anyone

Music is the center of my life.

I try to swim every damn day I can, and I've learned to scuba dive and snorkel.