The Majority Of The High Schools And

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.

Those Who Play For Applause....tha T’s All They Get.

Jazz Is Not Just 'well, Man, This Is What I Feel Like Playing.' It's A Very Structured Thing That Comes Down From A Tradition And Requires A Lot Of Thought And Study.

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

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.