Concord, California Was A Great Place To

Jazz Isn't Dead Yet. It's The Underpinning Of Everything In This Country. Whether It's A Broadway Show, Or Fusion, Or Right On Through Classical Music, If It's Coming Out Of The U.s., It's Not Going To Survive Unless It's Got Some Jazz Influence.

Jazz Stands For Freedom. It's Supposed To Be The Voice Of Freedom: Get Out There And Improvise, And Take Chances, And Don't Be A Perfectionist - Leave That To The Classical Musicians.

Jazz Is About Freedom Within Discipline. Usually A Dictatorship Like In Russia And Germany Will Prevent Jazz From Being Played Because It Just Seemed To Represent Freedom, Democracy And The United States.

So Often People Will Say That I Converted To The Catholic Religion. This Is False. Although I Was Raised As A Protestant, I Was Never Baptized And Had Never Been A Member Of Any Church. I Joined The Roman Catholic Church After I Had Written My Mass To Hope!during The Night I Dreamt The Entire Lord's Prayer With Chorus And Orchestra. I Jumped Out Of Bed And Wrote Down What I Had Heard As Accurately As I Could Remember. Because Of This Event I Decided That I Might As Well Join The Catholic Church Because Someone Somewhere Was Pulling Me Toward That End.

It's Like A Whole Orchestra, The Piano For Me.