We always hear about the rights of democracy, but the major responsibility of it is participation.

The real power of Jazz is that a group of people can come together and create improvised art and negotiate their agendas... and that negotiation is the art

We always hear about the rights of democracy, but the major responsibility of it is participation.

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.

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.

People have taken time out of their day and spent their money to come sit down at a concert. And it's jazz music-it's not easy for them to get to it. I don't want them ever to feel that I'm taking their presence lightly.

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