Jazz Music Is The Power Of Now.

If You Are Serious About American Culture And You Are Serious About Afro-american Culture, You Are In A Lot Of Pain. You Are Not - You Are Not Smiling About It.

I Remember When I Wrote A Piece, "blood On The Fields," It Was A While Ago, It Was About Slavery And About Two Characters, And I Studied So Much Of Music, I Would Always Go Back To The Original Documents, And As Much As I Can Get Original Chants And Slave Chants And Different Type Of Beats And Rhythms And Ring Shout.

No Particular Music Makes Me Feel Nostalgic. If It's Great, It Just Keeps Me In The Present Moment. That Level Of Music Is Like A Classic Story, Like The Iliad-something So Perfect It Can Never Be Old.

I Believed In Studying Just Because I Knew Education Was A Privilege. It Was The Discipline Of Study, To Get Into The Habit Of Doing Something That You Don't Want To Do.

I Dress Up A Certain Way Because I Respect The Music.