I started imagining this whole different world. It was a society of musicians, a family I hoped I could belong to one day.

I found this out over the years, that racism is a thinly veiled disguise over economics and money. It really is.

I improvised my life along the way - I just moved step-by-step. And I knew that if I got better, something would happen.

The people who make it to the top - whether they're musicians, or great chefs, or corporate honchos - are addicted to their calling ... [they] are the ones who'd be doing whatever it is they love, even if they weren't being paid.

After every war, there was a significant change in the music, and I can understand how that happened. If you participate in protecting the country, you think you can be part of it, but you come back home and it's worse than ever.

Billy Strayhorn wrote Multicolored Blue. Billy to me is the boss of the arrangers.

All guys get into music because they love music and they also want to get the girls.