I had just seen the movie 'Young Man With a Horn' about jazz musician Bix Beiderbecke. So I told him I'd take one of those.

What's happened - in our country, anyhow - is that the young people have shied away from the formality of the concert hall, that tie - and - tails philharmonic image.

Not with the Rochester Philharmonic, but I formed my own orchestra, made up of musicians from the Eastman School, where I'm on the faculty now, direct the Jazz Ensemble and teach improvisation classes.

My brother had a big band in high school; after that we continued to play together, eventually forming a group called the Jazz Brothers, that recorded for Riverside Records.

When I was young, I was told: 'You'll see, when you're fifty. I am fifty and I haven't seen a thing.

I got my love of jazz from my stepfather, who was a jazz musician.