I Knew Even If I'm A Cowboy,

I Started Growing Up In A Hurry And Taking A Lot Of The Philosophy I'd Heard From Church As A Kid A Lot More Seriously - Especially The Ten Commandments - And Wondering How 'thou Shalt Not Kill' Could Be So Absolutely Ignored. It Took Me Until I Was In My 40s To Write What I Was Thinking As A Young Soldier.

If I Told You All The People That Have Secretly Told Me I've Influenced Them, You'd Never Believe It, And You'll Never See It In Print, Either.

Over The Years I've Had Strong Friendships With Many Priests. As A Matter Of Fact, A Group Of Christian Leaders From The National Council Of Churches Came To My House In The 1950s To Ask Me To Write Music For A Mass. I Didn't Think I Was Ready At That Time. So, In A Sense, I Guess Joining The Church And Writing The Mass Was A Culmination Of A Long Journey That Is Still Going On.

Jazz Is About Freedom Within Discipline.

And There Is A Time Where You Can Be Beyond Yourself. You Can Be Better Than Your Technique. You Can Be Better Than Most Of Your Usual Ideas. And This Is A Whole Other Category That You Can Get Into.