“Greed has driven the world crazy. And I think I'm lucky that I have a place over here that I can call home.”

“This is the world you have made yourself, now you have to live in it.”

“To most white people, jazz means black and jazz means dirt, and that's not what I play. I play black classical music.”

“You can't help it. An artist's duty, as far as I'm concerned, is to reflect the times.”

“Life is short. People are not easy to know. They're not easy to know, so if you don't tell them how you feel, you're not going to get anywhere, I feel.”

“You don't have to live next to me / Just give me my equality.”

“What kept me sane was knowing that things would change, and it was a question of keeping myself together until they did.”