This rebuilding of New Orleans gives us the perfect opportunity to see if we're ready to extend the legacy of Dr. King.

A beat is a moment in the life a groove.

I believe in professionalism, but playing is not like a job. You have to be grateful to have the opportunity to play.

Jazz music is the power of now. There is no script. It's conversation. The emotion is given to you by musicians as they make split-second decisions to fulfill what they feel the moment requires.

I get so much from having the opportunity to interface with the younger people and to bring information to them and to represent our culture and our way of life. The feeling and the warmth and the love, it's unbelievable. The type of exchange that goes on between students and teachers or visiting people who are doing master classes, and not just when they're musicians. Even general classes, when the students are not necessarily musicians.

Trumpet players see each other, and it's like we're getting ready to square off or get into a fight or something.

Nothing else will ever capture the democratic process in sound as perfectly as Jazz.