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" The climate in the '50s and '60s for black performers or black people in the entertainment business was atrocious. It was atrocious. "

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" Seattle is like a global gumbo, a melting pot with all kinds of people - the rich, the poor, white people, some Chinese, Filipino, Jewish and black people - they're all here. "

" Every country can be defined through their food, their music and their language. That's the soul of a country. "

" When I was 14, I would sit up in my room and write till my eyes would bleed. "

" It slaps your dignity just right. I loved the idea of these proud, dignified black men, and I saw the older ones wounded, and it wounded me ten times as much because I couldn't stand seeing them hurt like this. "

" It's amazing how much trouble you can get in when you don't have anything else to do. "

" My grandmother had this high-tech security system - a rusty nail she used to lock the door. "

" I've never been bored in my life, man. I've never been bored or lonely. Are you kidding? No way! I'm an orchestrator, a musician, a producer. I love everything. I've studied languages from Farsi to Greek to French, Swedish, Russian... How can you get bored? "

" When I was 13, I started working in a nightclub with Ray Charles. That's the greatest school in the world, the school of the streets. Ray taught me how to read in Braille. He was only two years older than me, but it was like he was 100 years older. "

" Sidney Poitier and Sidney Lumet were instrumental in helping me get started as the first black composer to get name credit for movie scores. "

" I'm never in my life going to do a record that's a tribute to myself. I don't need it. "

" I guess hip-hop has been closer to the pulse of the streets than any music we've had in a long time. It's sociology as well as music, which is in keeping with the tradition of black music in America. "

" All guys get into music because they love music and they also want to get the girls. "

" I'm probably the only one in the world you can name that's worked with Billie Holiday, Louie Armstrong, Ella, Duke, Miles, Dizzy, Ray Charles, Aretha, Michael Jackson, rappers. 'Fly Me to the Moon' was played on the moon by Buzz Aldrin. Sinatra. Paul Simon. Tony Bennett. I'm the only one. "

" Young people should travel, and they don't. You can't know if you don't go. "

" I met Ray Charles at 14, and he was 16. But he was like a hundred years older than me. "

" Playing the game, and unfortunately, playing the gangster game is very profitable. "

" I hope that on my tombstone it says 'Born 1933, died 2043.' I hope that's my legacy. "

" I was rapping in 1939. It's old. The roots are complex. And kids don't know. "

" A great song can make a terrible singer sound good, but a good singer - you put a great song on top of that, you're really in great shape! "

" Unfortunately, America doesn't have a minister of culture, and I don't understand why. It's really bad for young people. "

" Without the Fender bass, there'd be no rock n' roll or no Motown. The electric guitar had been waiting 'round since 1939 for a nice partner to come along. It became an electric rhythm section, and that changed everything. "

" When you work with Ray Charles, Billy Eckstine and Frank Sinatra, and you tell them to jump without a net, you better know what you're talking about. Thank God I was ready for it. "

" I don't remember feeling love. "

" Everybody, no matter what vocation they're looking at, should add music as an essential to their curriculum. Music can be a very important part of your soul and your growth as a human being. It's so powerful. "

" It's easy to get next to music theory, especially between your peers and music classes and so forth. You just pay attention. I had a good ear, so I realized that printed music was just about reminding you what to play. "

" Imagine what a harmonious world it could be if every single person, both young and old shared a little of what he is good at doing. "

" We were in the heart of the ghetto in Chicago during the Depression, and every block - it was probably the biggest black ghetto in America - every block also is the spawning ground practically for every gangster, black and white, in America too. "

Black And White

" I believe that a hundred years from now, when people look back at the 20th century, they will look at Miles, Bird, Clifford Brown, Ella and Dizzy, among elders as our Mozarts, our Chopins, our Bachs and Beethovens. "

" I'd been in love before - I was always in love. "

" After every war, there was a significant change in the music, and I can understand how that happened. If you participate in protecting the country, you think you can be part of it, but you come back home and it's worse than ever. "