"I felt like I had to do more in order for people to think of what they would think of another musician—about the level of intellect or artistry of what I was doing…A big ...
"Sometimes I hear jazz and it sounds like hip cats playing for other hip cats to dig instead of taking more of a chance by trying to relate to the larger world by using ...
"And he said we’ll I don’t want to play any of those 7s or 11s or 13s or 22s. I don’t want to play any of that stuff that you’re writing. He said because even if I work on it ...
"There’s an interesting thing that happens. You prepare a piece. You rehearse it. It sounds perfect...And you go out and play it on the first night and immediately you hear ...
"I had moved to New York and spent a couple of years here scuffling around. I was getting a little discouraged, playing a lot of weddings. It wasn't exactly what I had in ...
"I kind of had a revelation once seeing him [Randy Weston] play live. It happened for me in a particular time in my life when I recently made the decision to be an artist. ...
"Up until the late 80's, it was not officially forbidden, but you were always like marked: 'Ah, he's interested in jazz. He's with Western culture. He's potentially enemy of ...
“Their music affects your consciousness, it changes your DNA if you really, really let it settle into your soul; Odetta’s voice, Miriam’s energy and a culture, Nina Simone’s ...
"I was brought up in small farm of my grandfather, and in the city. And My father was…working class. My father was working, my mother was working. I was on the streets all ...
Since the 1960s, writer and producer Nat Hentoff has confronted the question "Is jazz black music.' He discusses the issue in a 2008 conversation with Dr. Lewis Porter and ...