Jazz Comes From Our Way Of Life,

The Duke And Swing Represent Affirmation In The Face Of Adversity.

Who Creates A Thing Is Not As Important As What The Thing Is. Who Created Baseball? Who Created Basketball? Who Created The Space Program? Who Created - We Could Go On And On. We Could Argue About Who Created Something. We All Are Participants In It.

There Is An Idea That A Mind Is Wasted On The Arts Unless It Makes You Good In Math Or Science. There Is Some Evidence That The Arts Might Help You In Math And Science.

When I Auditioned For My High School Band The Band Director Was Excited Because My Father Was Known To Be A Great Musician. When He Heard Me, He Said 'are You Sure You're Ellis's Son?'

As Long As There Is Democracy, There Will Be People Wanting To Play Jazz Because Nothing Else Will Ever So Perfectly Capture The Democratic Process In Sound. Jazz Means Working Things Out Musically With Other People. You Have To Listen To Other Musicians And Play With Them Even If You Don't Agree With What They're Playing. It Teaches You The Very Opposite Of Racism And Anti-semitism. It Teaches You That The World Is Big Enough To Accommodate Us All.