I miss playing with Miles. I did play with him a little while before he left the planet, but even at that time I longed to maybe do some things together.

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

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.

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

I don't want to appear hostile, like I'm hostile to L.A. or that I feel that the people don't appreciate jazz. I don't think it's that. I think it's something more. It's something a little bit more complicated than that.

I think as long as people are around and can hear a record and hear people like Lester Young on a recording, there will always be a great inspiration for somebody to try to create jazz.

We have to make ourselves as perfect as we can.