My Name Sounds French But That's Just

By The Time I Was Eight I Was Taking Classical Piano Lessons And I Wanted To Be A Concert Pianist. But That Didn't Work Out. I Graduated From High School And My Formal Education Ended.

I Do Love To Sing Jacques Brel Songs, Intensely. I Get Terribly Excited, Just By Reading A Couple Of Lines In Any One Of His Songs.

I Applied For A Scholarship To Curtis Institute Of Music In Philadelphia. I Knew I Was Good Enough, But They Turned Me Down. And It Took Me About Six Months To Realize It Was Because I Was Black. I Never Really Got Over That Jolt Of Racism At The Time.

The Allusion Was That I Was Actually Naked. I Loved That. It Always, Kind Of Shocked People Enough That They Became Mine Immediately.

From The Beginning, It Has Been A No-no For A Black Man To Touch A White Woman.