We looked up to our father. He still is much greater than us.

Trumpet players are just belligerant, and cocky, and you know, just hard-headed.

I play piano and drums very poorly and French horn and tuba all equally as bad.

And my identity...I never really wondered about it because, unfortunately, I sounded like myself. People be saying I sound like Miles or Clifford Brown.

Jazz comes from our way of life, and because it's our national art form, it helps us to understand who we are.

Everything comes out in blues music: joy, pain, struggle. Blues is affirmation with absolute elegance. It's about a man and a woman. So the pain and the struggle in the blues is that universal pain that comes from having your heart broken. Most blues songs are not about social statements.

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