In the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra we play such a diversity of music, with 10 arrangers in the band, we don't really worry about whether it's contemporary or not.

I remember when I wrote a piece, "Blood on the Fields," it was a while ago, it was about slavery and about two characters, and I studied so much of music, I would always go back to the original documents, and as much as I can get original chants and slave chants and different type of beats and rhythms and ring shout.

I think that virtuosity is the first sign of morality in a musician. It means you're serious enough to practice.

My daddy expected that my brothers and I and our generation would make the world a better place. He had lived in an America of continual social progress.

The bandstand is a sacred place.

The first time I ever played the trumpet in public, I played the Marine Hymn. I sounded terrible.

Don't bullshit' just play.