If You Looked Around, You'd Be Glad

It's Harder To Build Than Destroy. To Build Is To Engage And Change. In Jazz, We Call Progressing Harmonies Changes. Changes Are Like Obstacles On A Speed Course. They Demand Your Attention And Require You To Be Present. They Are Coming...they Are Here..... And Then They Are Gone. It's How Life Comes. Each Moment Is A Procession From The Future Into The Past And The Sweet Spot Is Always The Present. Live In That Sweet Spot. Be Present.

Flexibility Is An Essential Part Of Jazz. It's What Gives Jazz Music The Ability To Combine With All Other Types Of Music And Not Lose Its Identity.

Jazz Celebrates Older Generations And Not Just The Youth Movement. When You "sell" Only To People Of A Certain Age, You Get Cut Off From The Main Body Of Experience. The Power Of Couple Dancing And Courtship, It's Elegant, And You Wouldn't Realize America Was Once A Nation Of Dancers And Singers Today. People Of All Races Could Dance And Sing.

I Almost Never Watch Tv, Except For '60 Minutes' And Pro Football. I Love Drew Brees, The Manning Brothers And The Steelers' Linebackers.

Many Heroic Things Happened During Slavery. And Remember That There Was A National Movement Away From It Even At The Time. The Era Of Reconstruction And Then The Subsequent Dismantling Of Reconstruction Sent Us In A Tailspin. Then We Had The Civil Rights Movement. Now We Have Our First Non-white President. We Have A Pattern Of Moving Apart And Then Coming Back Together Throughout The History Of This Country. Each Time, We Come Closer.