I've spent my life hearing people trying to apologize for music.

Music is my life.

I've sung other people's music all my life.

Music is my life. It is sacred.

In a way, the history of jazz's development is a small mirror of classical music's development through the centuries. Now jazz is a living form of original music, while classical music has gotten to the end of its cycle in terms of exploring its form.

I spent much of my life hiding.