I Dress Up A Certain Way Because

When I Came To New York, To Brooklyn, I Met Alvin Ailey And Stanley Crouch And August Wilson. They Were Always Putting Things In A Philosophical Context. All The Great Jazz Musicians Did, Too. There Was Always A Sub-context To What They Were Saying About Music Even Though They Would Be Very Down Home And Earthy. So I Started To Develop, In Addition To My Power And Ability To Simply Hear, A Way To Place Myself In A Time.

What I Really Have In My Head, My Imagination, My Understanding Of Music, I Never Really Get That Out.

Ethics Are More Important Than Laws.

To Say That The Afro American Created Jazz Doesn't Mean Anything Bad About Anglo Americans, And I Always Teach My Younger Jazz Musicians That At This Point The Entirety Of The American Tradition Is Your Heritage, And You Need To Know It.

The First Time I Ever Played The Trumpet In Public, I Played The Marine Hymn. I Sounded Terrible.