Jazz Has The Power To Make Men

I Was Raised In Chicago And I Guess That Was One Of The Special Breeding Grounds For Gangsters Of All Colors. That Was The Detroit Of The Gangster World. The Car Industry Was Thugs.

We Were In The Heart Of The Ghetto In Chicago During The Depression, And Every Block - It Was Probably The Biggest Black Ghetto In America - Every Block Also Is The Spawning Ground Practically For Every Gangster, Black And White, In America Too.

If You Started In New York You Were Dealing With The Biggest Guys In The World. You're Dealing With Charlie Parker And All The Big Bands And Everything. We Got More Experience Working In Seattle.

I Go To The Favelas In Brazil. It's The Same In The South Side Of Chicago. It's The Same, Or Just More Violent. We're Trying To Get Them To Stop Selling Dope. You See Kids With Ak-47s, And Nine-year-olds With Nine Millimeters. You Know, They Don't Play. They Make Us Look Like Nuns.

Music Was The One Thing I Could Control. It Was The One World That Offered Me Freedom. When I Played Music, My Nightmares Ended. My Family Problems Disappeared. I Didnt Have To Search For Answers. The Answers Lay No Further Than The Bell Of My Trumpet And My Scrawled, Pencilled Scores. Music Made Me Full, Strong, Popular, Self-reliant And Cool.