I was raised in Chicago and I guess that was one of the special breeding grounds for gangsters of all colors. That was the Detroit of the gangster world. The car industry was thugs.

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

You Make Your Mistakes To Learn How To Get To The Good Stuff

Did you know you would become as successful as you have? Hell, no. But you know what? You were prepared, baby.

Every day, my daddy told me the same thing. 'Once a task is just begun, never leave it till it's done. Be the labour great or small, do it well or not at all.'

I got a scholarship to Seattle University and I was writing arrangements for singers and everybody. But the music course was too dry and I really wanted to get away from home.

Let's not get too full of ourselves. Let's leave space for God to come into the room.