Joan Singleton

“Racism and the days of slavery does not exist in me or my thought or everyday living. It does not encompass me as a person. I have a personality, a daily living pattern and a culture that dictates who I am. Racism is out side of me, it is not who I am. It is an unacceptable part of someone else’s bitter thoughts that sometimes squeezes it way into my life. Racism is an annoyance, an irritation… a sickness.”

“A lot of time has been spent looking for just a hint of how Jimmy Palao and the Original Creole band sounded. The answer has been right under our nose. As we listen to the music of that day we hear the remnants of Jimmy Palao’s Original Creole Band. We do not hear the music that he would have recorded with the Original Creole Band but we hear the music just as he wished us to hear it … as he freely gave way to the concept of developing the free form of Jazz … that is to let others be heard and display their musical talent. It wasn’t his music from his instrument that he wanted heard. He wanted us to take in the greats as their sounds developed. After all that is why Jazz… is Jazz…”

“Sometimes answers are hard to realize ... "Because people spend years looking for deep and complicated answers or hidden messages. I guess a complicated answer would make the subject a lot more interesting. Some years ago, when I tried to sort through the deeper motivations of someone close to me, I was told that “I’m really not that deep or complicated. What you see is what you get. I keep it real.”

“It seems as though time stands still or is frozen in your memory when you meet the love of your life. Your heart sets it sights on that individual it doesn’t consult with your mind…nothing else exist. It is as though in that single moment there is no one else but the two of you in the universe.”

“All events and people are set in place for special souls to enter this world at a certain place and time. They follow a direct path and no matter what the circumstance they can’t be stopped until their mission is complete. They go against all the odds. Everything is suddenly set in motion, the correct people, the right moment and with a driving force they have an lasting impact that will bring a change in the world. We have witnessed this phenomenon time after time.”