There are very few groups that really stay together. The leaders of groups make enough money to be able to afford to work a maximum of 35-40 weeks a year.

My juices needed restoring. I needed a sabbatical from the record business.

Jazz is America's own. It is played and listened to by all peoples - in harmony together. Pigmentation differences have no place... as in genuine democracy, only performance counts.

I don't say that the supposed Civil Rights development is a myth, but it's a matter of dealing with reality. It's purely peripheral and, in many cases, it's just a facade.

I don't think that jazz, as any kind of an art form, has any permanence attached to it, apart from the practitioners of it.

My function at Verve was that of a genuine producer in artists and repertoire.

I don't think I will ever do any tours again in the United States. I rather think that that's over with.