We Looked Up To Our Father. He

The Rebuilding Of New Orleans Is An Important Point In The History Of The United States.

I Try To Find The Core Values That Are So Fundamental That They Transcend Ethnic Identity. That Doesn't Mean I Run From It. I Embrace African-american Culture And I Love It And Embrace It, But It Is A Part Of A Human Identity. So I'm Always Trying To Make A Larger Human Statement.

Jazz Music Is America's Past And Its Potential, Summed Up And Sanctified And Accessible To Anybody Who Learns To Listen To, Feel, And Understand It. The Music Can Connect Us To Our Earlier Selves And To Our Better Selves-to-come. It Can Remind Us Of Where We Fit On The Time Line Of Human Achievement, An Ultimate Value Of Art.

Benny Goodman's Band Was Integrated Before Baseball. Even Before It Was Physically Integrated, Music Was Integrated. Everyone Listened To Armstrong And Ellington. The 20s Was Called The Jazz Age. It's Part Of Being American.

Through Improvisation, Jazz Teaches You About Yourself. And Through Swing, It Teaches You That Other People Are Individuals Too. It Teaches You How To Coordinate With Them.