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Dobie was so well written and so ahead of its time.

It confuses me and disappoints me when somebody says, 'What does he do? What does he do?' My records are some of the biggest anthems ever. What do you think, they magically just appear? Obama walked out to my record.

Once at the White House I was asked to conduct the Drum and Bugle Corp. The man just handed me the baton and I finished the song. It was great. I got to keep the baton.

It just so happened that my agent called and said, 'There's this movie 'Pitch Perfect.' Here are the sides.' I think I originally read for Bumper, because Donald didn't have much in the script, so I read all Bumper's lines. I beatboxed for them, because that's what my character was supposed to do. And then I was like, 'By the way, I rap.'

In 'thinking up' music I usually have some kind of a brass band with wings on it in back of my mind.

He seems determined to make a trumpet sound like a tin whistle.

Imagine if Beethoven had a tape recorder. Then you'd know exactly what he meant. Maybe he meant 'Da da da da' instead of 'Boom boom boom boom!' Who knows?

Every now and then, I strike something that just goes click, you know, in my head. As Gertrude Stein used to say, it rings the bell, and I feel, this is great.

The day of the great jazz improviser who doesn't know how to read music is over.