The musicians, Duke Ellington, his thing was not about separating himself from the rest of America. Louis Armstrong - go to the forefathers of our music - Jelly Roll Morton - they're not preaching a separatist agenda. They're not taking their music and saying, "This is for me."

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

Everything comes out in blues music: joy , pain , struggle . Blues is affirmation with absolute elegance.

For me as a person who's in the arts and as someone who understands the magnitude of our contributions and the price that was paid to contribute to that, that we just have not gotten that together. I will do all that I can to get in front of our kids, to try to teach them, but at a certain point the people have to want it and come towards it.

When I first came to New York everybody on the scene would treat me like I could play but I couldn't.

Even in these times, there are still neighbors that will turn their backs on neighbors.

The soul gives us resilience - an essential quality since we constantly have to rebound from hardship.