I have absolutely no idea what my generation did to enrich our democracy. We dropped the ball. We entered a period of complacency and closed our eyes to the public corruption of our democracy.

The reason why the music [jazz] is important is because it's an art form-an ancient art form-that takes in the mythology of our people.

I have friends who will critique me much harder than any review.

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.

Ethics are more important than laws. Which means that the exact note is less important than the feeling of the note.

I always read all these books about the slaves. My mother is very educated. My father would talk to us like we were grown men. We never knew what he was talking about half the time.

Jazz is democracy in music.