Jazz music is America's past and its potential, summed up and sanctified and accessible to anybody who learns to listen to, feel, and understand it. The music can connect us to our earlier selves and to our better selves-to-come. It can remind us of where we fit on the time line of human achievement, an ultimate value of art.

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

If you looked around, you'd be glad you couldn't see.

I think that virtuosity is the first sign of morality in a musician. It means you're serious enough to practice.

Whenever you face a man who's playing your instrument, there's a competition.

Don't worry about what others say about your music. Pursue whatever you are hearing... but if everybody really hates your music maybe you could try some different approaches.

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