The rebuilding of New Orleans is an important point in the history of the United States.

It's really not a stretch. The checks and balances are the same. The drums are the executive branch. The jazz orchestra is the legislative branch. Logic and reason are like jazz solos. The bass player is the judicial branch. One our greatest ever is Milt Hinton, and his nickname is "The Judge."

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

Jazz music celebrates life! Human life; the range of it, the absurdity of it, the ignorance of it, the greatness of it, the intelligence of it, the sexuality of it, the profundity of it. And it deals with it. In all of its... It deals with it!

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

This is our bandstand. If you don't want to play, get up off the instrument and leave.

I wanted to make somebody feel like Coltrane made me feel, listening to it.