We're blues people. And blues never lets tragedy have the last word.

I believe in professionalism, but playing is not like a job. You have to be grateful to have the opportunity to play.

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

Everything about the swing is about some guideline and some grid and the elegant way that you negotiate your way through that grid.

Don't settle for style. Succeed in substance.

I get so much from having the opportunity to interface with the younger people and to bring information to them and to represent our culture and our way of life. The feeling and the warmth and the love, it's unbelievable. The type of exchange that goes on between students and teachers or visiting people who are doing master classes, and not just when they're musicians. Even general classes, when the students are not necessarily musicians.

One thing about excellence, it&Mac226;s an exclusive club. And it&Mac226;s only for those who really want to pay dues to the s--. My daddy told me when I was a boy: The only way you can be different from other people is to do some s-- they don't want to do.