New Orleans had a great tradition of celebration. Opera, military marching bands, folk music, the blues, different types of church music, ragtime, echoes of traditional African drumming, and all of the dance styles that went with this music could be heard and seen throughout the city. When all of these kinds of music blended into one, jazz was born.

So when we spend all of our time trying to separate that which is already joined, it's a waste of time.

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

Those who play for applause....Tha t’s all they get.

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

When you study our greatest artists, you will find that they give us a key to understand how to deal with each other, and that our bloodlines are intertwined. It's not hyphenated America. That there is an America, and it is expressed in those arts. It gives us a key to figure out how to negotiate with each other, and it tells us actually who we are.

What is deeper than respect and love? That’s what we felt: veneration.