I travel up and down the country and I've been all around the middle of America for many years. Middle America is not one big mass of people with a proverbial beer in its hand, keeping the country down. That is not my experience of it and I don't labor under that misconception. And we have a long tradition of coming together through music in our country.

Commercialism that has absolutely no relationship to quality whatsoever, only quantitative assessment of a thing.

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

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

Having heard Clifford Brown play all those fast runs, I used to really practice Clarke trumpet exercises all day long so that I could play fast. That's all I wanted to do. I was like a child with a toy.

Only a few act - the rest of us reap the benefits of their risk.

The Duke and Swing represent affirmation in the face of adversity.