I am interested in my music lasting only while I'm alive. I'm not writing for the future.

I think music should be judged on what it is. It should be very high and above everything else. It is a beautiful way of bringing people together, a little bit of an oasis in this messed-up world.

I'm fortunate that I'm making a living at it now because I'm not equipped to do anything else.

I'm now a legend, whether I want to be or not.

There was a period which I refer to as the 'Golden Age of Jazz,' which sort of encompasses the middle Thirties through the Sixties, we had a lot of great innovators, all creating things which will last the world for a long, long time.

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.

It's all about creation and surprise. It just needs to be appreciated and watered like flowers. You have to water flowers. These peaks will come again.