- Why do you think jazz is so popular?
- I believe that jazz is pure music. It is impossible to play it insincerely, because people will immediately feel it. Jazz is able to reflect all aspects of our lives: pain, suffering and joy.
- Do you think that this is what allows jazz to stay alive? After all, they say that rock is dead, but it is much younger than jazz.
- Actually, rock is still alive. (Laughs.) They used to say the same about jazz, but I don't think it was ever dead. More and more young people listen to it, all because jazz does not stand still, but is developing alongside young musicians, who are promoting it to the masses. For example, Robert Glasper, a talented musician whose music is inimitable. You get the impression that he can take any person and through his melodies, get him "hooked" on jazz, no matter what music he was listening to before that.
- Would it be right to say that you do not agree with the assertion that jazz is the music for the upper echelons of society?
- I wouldn't say that. To appreciate jazz, you do not need to have a great intellect or to belong to the upper strata of society. The more you listen to jazz, the more you understand and appreciate it. You simply cannot help loving jazz. Even if you start listening to it simply because you must (for some reason), after a while, you will love it all the same.
- Is jazz still purely American music?
- It has always been and will remain American music. This style was born in America. It is a form of our art. It's like with classical music, which was and remains European. The same goes for jazz: it will always be American.
- Recently, one well-known Russian musician said that Americans will always be the best in jazz, especially African American bass guitar players and drummers. Would you agree with this?
- I don't know. I'll leave it for other people to judge. I only know that if I decided to play Cuban music, I would never be able to perform it as authentically as a person who grew up in the culture. This is not to say that I cannot play it: it just means that there will be a difference. If you grew up in America and were surrounded with certain nuances of jazz, then you are most likely to reiterate those nuances. I am not opposed to the notion of an African American aesthetic.