When I came up, it was all about originality and collective research. There is an awful lot of imitation going on now.

I started in New Orleans music and played all through the history of jazz.

When I came up, it was all about originality and collective research. There is an awful lot of imitation going on now.

Whoever has an original thing to say, it is sort of a threat to the status quo.

If you listen to Louis Armstrong from 1929, you will never hear anything better than that really, and you will never hear anything more free than that.

There is an awful lot of what I call recreational jazz going on, where people go out and learn a particular language or style and become real sharks on somebody else's language.

I've performed solo for 20 years now, but I don't do much of it, because if you only play alone, you go crazy and out of tune and play foolish music.