Even the most jingoistic person would have to admit that even American cultural music comes from Europe. That's what classical music is, real European music.

We have to make ourselves as perfect as we can.

Many jazz artists go to L.A. seeking a more comfortable life and then they really stop playing.

My mother came from St. Thomas. I heard that melody and all I did was actually adapt it. I made my adaptation of sort of an island traditional melody. It did become sort of my trademark tune.

I guess I'm fortunate that I'm still around and I emphasize 'I guess', because you never can tell what musicians would be playing had they been around as long as I have.

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

One very important thing I learned from Monk was his complete dedication to music. That was his reason for being alive. Nothing else mattered except music, really.