Jazz Is About Freedom Within Discipline.

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.

I Knew Even If I'm A Cowboy, I'm Going To Be Involved In Jazz In Some Way.

When I Was 20, Shostakovich Was My Favorite Composer. I Still Find His Fifth Symphony Wonderful, With Its Outstanding Themes And Rhythms. That's The Piece That Made Me Want To Be A Classical Composer.

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

I Wasn't Allowed To Play In Some Universities In The United States And Out Of Twenty-five Concerts, Twenty-three Were Canceled Unless I Would Substitute My Black Bass Player For My Old White Bass Player, Which I Wouldn't Do.