When I say "our," I definitely mean all of America. It's not less pertinent for you because it comes from a Black person, just like a great achievement by an Anglo American is less important.

Love is the spiritual essence of what we do. Technique is the manifestation of the preparation and investment as a result of the love.

The heart of a music is its rhythm. The heart of rhythm section music is the rhythm.

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

You need a team. You need people to push you. You need opponents.

I always like to play very contemporary concepts of swing right next to New Orleans music because it highlights continuum.

Nothing else will ever capture the democratic process in sound as perfectly as Jazz.