So I went from going to conservatories and studying clarinet, to working with some of the Latin groups in my neighborhood. That brought me into jazz. The clarinet pedagogy was so stupid. They were essentially trying to charm people out of getting involved in improvised music. All of this stuff is basically anti-jazz and racist.
Jazz clarinet is essentially repertory shit played by white guys.
There are no black folks in it. I was as unwelcome there as I was in classical music. So, part of what's happened to me is that I have made a lot of my own opportunities. This white guy comes in and says, 'Oh, that's too hard for you'. There is this whole vibe that jazz is just too hard for niggers because now white people are studying it.