The Process Is The Most Beautiful Part.

Benny [carter] Opened The Eyes Of A Lot Of Producers And Studios, So That They Could Understand That You Could Go To Blacks For Other Things Outside Of Blues And Barbecue. He's A Total Musician. He Was The Pioneer, He Was The Foundation. He Made It Possible For That Doubt To Be Taken Away.

I Got To Trumpet, Finally. That's Why I Love To Write For Brass, And [count] Basie And [frank] Sinatra And All That Stuff, 'cause That's Just Like Part Of My Dna.

I Got A Scholarship To Seattle University And I Was Writing Arrangements For Singers And Everybody. But The Music Course Was Too Dry And I Really Wanted To Get Away From Home.

The Climate In The '50s And '60s For Black Performers Or Black People In The Entertainment Business Was Atrocious. It Was Atrocious.

All The Jazz Guys Had Interracial Relationships, And Even The Ladies Did. Over The Years, Interracial Relationships Have Been A Hip, Almost Defiant Thing, A Way Of Saying "nobody Can Put A Boundary Around Me."