Our culture is what we did together. What did Walt Whitman represent for all of us? What was his message to us? That is an inheritance, and when we squander that inheritance we act outside. We don't know who we are; we don't know where we are.

My schedule is always tight. But I like to have the pressure of having to finish doing something; it gives me an added edge.

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.

When I came to New York, to Brooklyn, I met Alvin Ailey and Stanley Crouch and August Wilson. They were always putting things in a philosophical context. All the great jazz musicians did, too. There was always a sub-context to what they were saying about music even though they would be very down home and earthy. So I started to develop, in addition to my power and ability to simply hear, a way to place myself in a time.

When those who are educated using their education to exploit those who aren't. That's what the sub-prime scandal represents - people of education using it at the expense of others. At Jazz at Lincoln Center, we have 22 educational programs. Not just the word but the substance of education is guided by the arts.

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

Some stances are just conducive to swinging. If I stand up straight for too long it's harder to swing. Plus my feet hurt.