I think the problem starts with the general appreciation of the music in the larger society.

I am a person who thinks about the music first in trying to achieve something musically valid.

There have been many great musicians that, Clifford Brown is one great example, I mean he died very early, 25.

I feel that I have an obligation to jazz and also to myself to play as good as I can play.

...this is my dilemma. I'm a guy who makes things up as I go along, so nothing is ever finished - there are so many layers. So when you solo, yeah, you might get into one thing, but then, hey, everything has implications! You can hear the next level. And that's how I feel about improvising - there's always another level.

What I am more concerned about is whether our whole civilization will be around in the next 25 years.

Jazz is an endless source of ideas, because you can use anything. You can play operatic arias. You can incorporate them into jazz. You can play gypsy music and incorporate it into jazz. You can European classical and you can incorporate it into jazz. You can use anything and jazz it up, as they used to say.