he American drummer is a one-man percussion orchestra.

The people who really got me off were dealing with the musical potential of the Instrument.

I’d like to build what I call an oasis.

I always resented the role of a drummer as nothing more than a subservient figure.

Although the crash came a year later, and although the people were poor and disenfranchised, they had a lot of pride.

Jazz is a very democratic musical form. It comes out of a communal experience. We take our respective instruments and collectively create a thing of beauty.

I didn’t even apply. There was no warning.

They don’t tell you why they chose you. And they won’t say who was on the committee.

My point is that we much decolonize our minds and re-name and re-define ourselves . . . In all respects, culturally, politically, socially, we must re-define ourselves and our lives, in our own terms.