Through Improvisation, Jazz Teaches You About Yourself.

The Majority Of The High Schools And The Public Schools In N.y.c. Don't Even Have Band Programs. Hip-hop In A Lot Of Ways Is An Outgrowth Of A Lack Of Instruments And A Desire To Play Music, So We Can't Really Fault The Kids For That.

Even In These Times, There Are Still Neighbors That Will Turn Their Backs On Neighbors.

When I Came To New York, To Brooklyn, I Met Alvin Ailey And Stanley Crouch And August Wilson. They Were Always Putting Things In A Philosophical Context. All The Great Jazz Musicians Did, Too. There Was Always A Sub-context To What They Were Saying About Music Even Though They Would Be Very Down Home And Earthy. So I Started To Develop, In Addition To My Power And Ability To Simply Hear, A Way To Place Myself In A Time.

Music Is The Art Of All The Invisible Things That Are Real. Art, Emotion, Spiritual Essence, Consciousness - These Things Are Hard To Prove. Music Helps You To Focus On Your Sound. We Understand That For Very Young Kids.

I Always Read All These Books About The Slaves. My Mother Is Very Educated. My Father Would Talk To Us Like We Were Grown Men. We Never Knew What He Was Talking About Half The Time.